Blue in the Sunset
by One Crazy Fox
Summary: Sora and Kairi live in a poor, agricultural district. Disaster strikes and Sora is forced to take another’s life. As a result, he and Kairi must run away, but will they survive in a world totally different than their own?[Angst][Action][Romance]
1. Prologue

Hello! One Crazy Fox here! Welcome to _Blue in the Sunset_, by yours truly. This is my first fanfic on here! YEAH! And hopefully not the last.

_Summery: Sora and Kairi live in Ptolemor; a poor, agricultural based district of the world. Disaster strikes and Sora is forced to take another's life. As a result, he and Kairi must run away, but will they be able to survive in a world totally different than their own? SoraxKairi _

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy… If I did, I wouldn't be wasting my time writing this…

_'thoughts'_

"dialog"

_emphasis_

**emphasis**

and look! more **_emphasis_**

XXX

Prologue:

Ptolemor, or "Flat Valley", was just that; a vast land of bare plains, though it was surrounded by mountainous and jagged districts, no mountains were present within the boundaries. Ptolemor was a very poor district of the world, one of the only agricultural based districts; farming was the dominant way of life and it was pretty behind in technology. There were no large cities or buildings, no computers, even having electricity in your home was a precious privilege. The biggest town that resided there was Traverse Town, most of the people in Ptolemor lived on the edges of this small and messy town. But miles away from this busy little community, away from the other cottages and homes, was another residence…

"Yes, sir." The boy mumbled nervously, head hanging low.

"Did you lock up the pins when you were done, boy?" A large figure in the doorway spoke deep.

"I said 'yes', sir." The boy took a small step closer still holding his head low, afraid to look up. He grasped his trouser pants tightly and his muscles tensed.

The man lunged out and grabbed the back of the boys head, twisting his hair back so his head flew up and cringed his teeth in pain, "Get your head up and speak, stray!"

Obeying, the little brunette cried out, "Y-yes, sir! Everything is locked up, sir!" Sora grinded his teeth at the end.

The man let go of his arm, stepped back and starred down at the boy. Sora grabbed the back of his head with both hands and fell to the ground, letting out a ghasp of relief. He used the tips of his fingers to gently press down on the tender area. The large man stomped his foot and the house shook,

"Did I say you could just plop down on the ground? Get back to your room and be ready to do all of your morning chores before you drive the sheep. Now get!" He pointed a huge finger to the side of the house.

The boy didn't argue, he instantly got up and ran to his room. It was a very simple and small room. Two plain beds with a nightstand inbetween, a poor dresser with a block of wood replacing a leg, buckets and pans in the far corner of the room in case of rain, the ceiling was not poorly built just very aged. Sora picked one of these up and strolled over to his bed. He sat down with a foot tucked underneath and started to examine is face in the sauce pan. He pulled at a large bandage on his cheek, grimacing as it stung at the end. He then placed the pan in his lap and combed up his bangs. Sora lightly touched an eye, now black from a dropped egg in the chicken coop, and started to tend to it. He put a little more pressure on it and winced again. The door suddenly swung open and Sora dropped the pan and locked his eyes on the figure that entered the room. A fairly young teenager, this girl had very short black hair that fell over a white bandana, she wore a longsleeve blouse and black trousers cut into shorts. She ran over to Sora and started to touch and examine his face,

"Did he get angry again? Sora, did he do anything?" Yuffie ran her fingers through his hair trying to comfort him.

"No, no, he didn't. Yuffie, I'm fine. You can stop freaking out now." Sora smiled, but Yuffie wasn't convinced.

"Oh Sora," Yuffie grabbed his head and shoved it into her developing busom, Sora grunted and tried to free himself from the hold, "A ten-year-old shouldn't have to go through this, but you know," She pulled his head out of her squeeze allowing a chance for Sora to get some air, "you know dad doesn't mean it right? He just gets a little angry sometimes…" She held his head to her chest again.

'_Yuffie, you're so blind…' _He thought to himself as he pulled away from Yuffie's hold, "Hey, cut that out," Sora said playfully, "I said I was fine. Plus, you're going to wake up Tifa…" They both turned and looked at the other bed which was occupied by the small and fragile eight-year-old figure, then back at Sora, "Well, okay," Yuffie managed a weak smile, "but try not to cause so much trouble, okay?" Sora mentally rolled his eyes, _'How could she even say that?'_

"Alright…"

XXX

The day was sunny and bright as usual, and light puffy clouds dotted the clear baby blue sky. Just looking at it you would feel at peace and relaxed, the shabby yet whimsical looking cottage fit in perfectly with the scenery. But the small rural home did have a few holes and patched up parts, it was usually worked on weekly. A small set of steps led up to a porch that wrapped around the home, giving entrances to all bedrooms that were not always accessible through the halls leading from the family room. A long fence wrapped around the property holding the chicken and pigeon coop, small vegetable gardens, few trees, and the sheep pins. Another fence wrapped around huge corn fields that laid across the dirt road from the house, this was also their property.

The wind chime jingled as a light breeze swept over the extensive plains. Sora let the screen door slam behind him as he stepped out onto the porch.

He was ten years old, and basically still an orphan. Sora was left at the doorstep of a church in the town when he was a baby and luckily a priest was kind enough to take him into his home. He took care of him and schooled him until he was seven and then decided it was best to send him to live with a real family. The priest handed Sora over to a man named Ansem, a respected man in the town that stood at an intimidating height just over six feet. The priest thought it would be a good home, the man did already have a family of his own; three children to be exact. Yuffie; age 12, Tifa; age 5, and Rinoa; age 3. All girls, but Sora immediately got along with all of them and relized he had a special responsibility being a big brother to them. Ansem though, admitted very early after adopting Sora that he didn't like little boys and took a dislike to Sora immediately. The only reason Sora was ever taken into Ansem's home was because the mother grew an illness and the only way Ansem could care for his wife and keep the farm running was to get another male to help tend the crops and livestock. Soon after Sora was adopted into the new family though, the mother passed away. Because of this, Ansem took on more of a disgust towards Sora, acting like he was the one that killed her. Work got harder and started to expand for Sora. If chores weren't finished or done right, there would be a harsh punishment, and usually, almost always a beating. The girls would try and pull the father off of him but he wouldn't listen and would keep yelling and beating on Sora. In the end, Yuffie's arms would be wrapped around her father's waste using all of her strength to hold him back, Sora on the ground arms up in defense, and the younger girls in the corner sobbing viscously for it to stop.

Index finger and thumb in mouth, a long whistle sounded around the farm. A black and white collie barked and rounded the corner of the house.

"C'mon girl, let's go drive the sheep!" He said cheerily. This had to be Sora's favorite part of the day. Partly because he got to venture off into the mountains, it was always great to get out of Ptolemor. But the reason he really loved it was because he would get to go visit the girl, his best and truest friend, Kairi. Sora broke a long branch off a tree and started walking over to the sheep pins. Breaking off small twigs and limbs, the now more slender and smooth branch became a temporary shepherd's staff. The last one he made was accidentally left at the stream in the mountains. As he reached the pins, Sora started scanning over the sheep, about 30 or so roamed inside their very limited pin. Eight-year-old Tifa and six-year-old Rinoa waved Sora and the dog off as he traveled down the dusty dirt road. He couldn't wait to see her.

XXX

_Kairi's P.O.V._

We couldn't stop laughing, Rikku was cracking me up so much. She scooped up more bubbles and placed them around her mouth, looked me in the eye, and failed miserably to put on a serious face as we both busted out laughing uncontrollably. We were all in the kitchen washing dishes, well, Aerith was washing dishes, I was drying and Rikku _had said_ that she wanted to help. Light blonde hair pulled back into two cute braids and big beautiful green eyes, I always think of Rikku as a mischievous little angel. She always wears pretty little summer dresses, usually ones with sunflower patterns, made by our mother. Well, her and Tidus's mother, actually our family is pretty confusing I guess…

"Now c'mon, get to drying. You two still have other chores to do once you're done." Aerith smiled. She is always the mature one, seventeen, long brown hair tied in cute bows, she has green eyes too but a different mother from Rikku's. Okay well the deal is, my father has been married twice, the first woman was my mother, she had Wesemier; he's the oldest and out of the house, Aerith, and me; I just hit ten last month! I can't remember our mother, she left Ptolemor right after I was born. But luckily our father remarried a few years later. Her name is Marisa and she is wonderful. She's kind, caring, dependable and very wise. She also does EVERYTHING around the house; everything is always spotless and perfect, she cooks the best meals, can sew anything, combs our hair while giving us priceless advice… She had two children with my father, Rikku; eight, and Tidus; seven. And because of her Aerith is engaged to the man of her choice, she is _so_ lucky, right? His name is Cloud and he lives in the town, he pumps gas next to the feed store. Our father wanted her to marry a 'real man', he would say… in other words, he wanted an arranged marriage. What that meant was he wanted Aerith to marry a family that would, in exchange for a housewife, would hand over a couple of acres of land to the family. But thanks to Marisa, she didn't have to do that. See? I told you she was wonderful…

Rikku wiped the bubbles off her chin and face, then her eyes locked on something outside. She pointed out the window that laid behind the sink, "Hey look! Sora's here!"

I looked up from my drying and saw the figure of a small boy, along with a herd of sheep, approaching the house. I immediately dropped my dish in the sink and ran out onto the porch, I could hear a splash and Aerith's annoyed, _"Kairi!" _as I exited the room. When I reached the gate of the house, Sora was already chatting with Marisa and Tidus, who were once working in the vegetable garden.

"Sora, how are you?" Marisa asked, excited and happy to see him.

"Fine, and what about you, Mrs. Snead?" Sora replied cheerily back.

"Sora, I rode a car into town yesterday! I drove it all the way from here to Traverse Town!" Tidus excitedly jumped up and down, Marisa lovingly put her hands around Tidus's shoulders, calming him a bit.

"Wow, you drove a car! All the way into town!" Sora was always so nice to our family, he was a really good big brother too..

"Well Cloud borrowed a car from the station, and he just came riding in it up along here, acting all cool and stuff, he wanted to take Aerith into town, but I also had to go on some errands so I just decided--" This was Marisa's only fault, she **_loves_** to talk, and by the way, if anyone's noticed, I haven't even said hi to Sora, and I was tired of being polite…

"Hey Sora!"

"Hey, Kai! You wanna help me drive the sheep today?" I turned to my step mom,

"Can I Marisa? Please, can I?" Marisa sighed, "Kairi, you haven't even finished your chores, are you just going to leave them for your sisters to do? Plus, I don't like you venturing off in the mountains, and it's not just you, I don't like Sora doing it either."

"Marisa, please? I'll do whatever chores you give me and _more_ tomorrow, please?" I was going to win, I always do. She usually let me go to the mountains with Sora, but my father didn't like me being up there by my self. It's not that he didn't trust Sora, he's just worried about his little girl I guess. Marisa gave a long sigh and shooed us off with her hand,

"Alright go, but don't tell your father about this, he'll never forgive me if he finds out I sent you to the mountains again." Tidus popped up his head and looked at his mom, "Can I go too?"

"Nope, now you have to do all of Kairi's chores." She said humorously.

"_Mom!"_ Tidus argued.

"Just a joke dear," She turned towards Sora and me, now outside the gate, "Back before dinner, be careful."

Sora and me started walking down the dusty dirt road. We stood on the side of the herd while the dog brought up the rear. Sora shoved the staff in my hands, I looked up at him and of course he was just smiling away,

"She always says yes in the end, it's kind of funny." He chuckled at the end, and then I looked more closely at his face, but tried not to think of it…

"Yeah, she is really great isn't she?" I said kind of halfheartedly and looked to the ground.

"Yeah. I can't wait for school to start again next week, either. I'm so sick of doing all this work." He stretched his arms above his head. I squeezed the staff that was still in my hands, my thoughts were still on Sora's new marks, "Uh Sora," I looked to him, he kept looking down the road,

"Yeah?" His eye, he got a new shiner.

"Where did you get that black eye?" As soon as I said it, the smile wiped off his face, he looked to the ground and then at me.

"Oh, well you know.. accidentally dropped an egg, and, uh, well you know what that means." He tried to play it off with a laugh at the end.

"Sorry."

"No, it's fine. Really." I was going to ask him why he kept staying here, but I already knew the answer. Ptolemor is so small, where would he go? We live a long ways from Traverse Town so no one would really trouble themselves coming out here, and you need a passport or something like that to travel to other districts. He was just stuck.

"It's not that bad, I stay here with Yuffie and Tifa, and uh Rinoa. I get to see you and your family almost every day." He always made sure I didn't worry.

XXX

_Sora's P.O.V._

We got back to laughing after that and continued our trip up to the mountains. At the foot of the mountain, I showed my pass along with my family name and continued up the path. Ptolemorians were allowed to go only along this path, to water their livestock and then head back down. Once we got halfway up the mountain the sheep got their drink from the stream and we all headed back down. We put up the sheep in the pins and then returned Kairi's house. Her step mom invited me to dinner, but I know I wouldn't be able to stay. Before I left Mrs. Snead grabbed my shoulders and looked me in the eyes, I have to be honest it startled me for a moment.

"If you ever need anything, you can come to me."

I found this really out there, she knows how my family is but she's never said anything before… So I just nodded my head, said my goodbyes, and was off to my house again.

Prologue: End

XXX

Well? Well? Was it boring enough for you? Sorry, that was the opening chapter and I just wanted people to get the feel on what life is like and their surroundings, Next chapter will get into the: ANGST, FEAR and TRAGETY. Dun, dun, dun…

So please, keep reading.


	2. 96 Tears

I don't really think anyone's even reading this, kind of sad isn't it? Too bad, CAUSE IT IS GOING TO GET GOOD… So yeah, keep on reading, kids.

**_Disclaimer:_** Don't own it! Don't own Kingdom Hearts! Just the story, people.

**A/N: - Authors Notes. **

'_thoughts'_

"dialog"

_emphasis_

**emphasis**

and look! more **_emphasis_**

Chapter 1: 96 Tears 

Beads of sweat formed on the boy's face. His upper lip was moist and drenched bangs hugged around his face. Today there was no breeze; hot, humid, the moisture just hung in the air. The heavy grey clouds marched slowly across the dreary sky, below a boy leaned back against a great oak tree and rested his hands on his knees,

"So she's totally moved in then?" Sora asked breathing heavily, while using the back of his wrist to wipe off his forehead.

"Yep, just moved the last of it Wednesday." She grunted at the end. She balanced herself high up in the tree, Kairi was on all fours with her pink and blue pastel dress was tied in a knot up on her thigh. She had one hand extended out towards a pair of nice dress shoes. Her finger brushed against a black strap, still wasn't close enough. Suddenly a pearly white barrette slipped out of her hair and fell to the ground. She hugged the tree and looked down,

"Sora, my barrette just fell, can you find it?" Sora threw his jacket off his lap, stood up and searched around the wet grass for awhile,

"You should've let me get your shoes, we could've been home by now." Sora spotted the barrette; it was glowing against the grass. He bent down to pick it up and started to examine it, then looked up to Kairi once she spoke,

"Don't give me that, you would've broken this branch and been in the dirt in no time." Sora smirked as placed his hands in his short pockets along with the barrette. He kept looking up at the amusing scene with Kairi who was struggling and cursing at the shoes just out of her reach. She lunged at the shoes again, missed, and then quickly embraced the tree before she lost her balance. She had managed to hit them through because they now swung slowly back and forth, taunting Kairi. She was out of breath, not only because of the exhaust it took to get her shoes, but also because of the humidity and heat that engulfed her. She combed back her sticky bangs and heard Sora,

"You know, now that I think of it, being the most responsible and mature one in the house usually means that you don't run bare foot home from school and then throw your shoes in the air where they get caught in a tree…" Kairi's tongue curled over her upper lip as she reached out again and failed to take the shoes. The branch shook again and she gasped as she bear hugged the limb.

"Hey…" She looked down at Sora, not really knowing how to reply, "…Shut up." Kairi looked back at the shoes that she now loathed. She crawled out a little farther on the branch and once it started to groan she stopped. Very delicately, she reached up and grabbed the shoes. Once Kairi had a firm grip on them, she inch-wormed herself back to the trunk of the tree and started to climb down. She sat where the trunk split and dangled her feet over the edge. Kairi then hopped down but lost her balance and landed on her rear. Sora offered her a hand and lifted her up.

"Well we better get going, Kai, it looks like it's going to rain soon." Sora said as he squinted up at the sky. Kairi looked up and shaded her eyes from what little light pierced through the clouds,

"Yeah, I guess you're right." They both headed down the road.

Sora was now twelve and Kairi would be catching up to his age in about two months. Once Aerith turned eighteen she married Cloud and moved into the city, her father ended up approving the marriage in the end. But even Kairi's father ended up having a happy ending. Him and Sora's 'father', Ansem, combined their property so they could make more money, when it came to selling more crops and goods in Traverse Town. This also caused Ansem to start going a lot easier on Sora, life was starting to turn around for him. School had just been let out for the summer; everything was very normal, very casual..

CRASH! A piece of china shattered against the wall into a million pieces.

"DISGUSTING! ABSOLUTELY, **REPOLSIVE** PIG!" Marisa tipped over the coffee table causing everything to fly off and collide with the ground, wall, door, hitting anywhere in the room. She was ecstatic with anger, enraged; the whole room was in chaos. The father stood in the doorway dumbfounded and confused about how he managed to be found out.

"How could I ever bring myself to marry a piece of garbage like you?" She kicked the coffee table again, out of pure red anger and looked up to him, furry in her usually beautiful, bright, emerald eyes. Mascara ran down to her chin, her hair looked as though someone had tried to pull it out but instead was satisfied with rubbing it against two balloons. She lifted a coffee mug and starred towards her husband in the doorway. She choked on her tears for some time and then scrunched up her face in disgust. She started out soft and calm but firm,

"Who do you think you are," Marisa took small and slow steps towards him and took a shaky deep breath, "you bastard, 'going to town for errands', YOU SICK BASTARD!" She hurled the mug towards her spouse where it smash into smithereens upon the wood frame of the door. He flinched and then started towards her, he wasn't going to put up with this anymore; after all, she was destroying the house and acting totally mental. Marisa began backing up repeating quietly, almost to herself, 'don't touch me, don't touch me…' He restrained her by grabbing her wrists,

"You are gonna start calming down right now, fucking lunatic!" He yelled at her, she couldn't escape from his grasp so she just kept shaking her head back and forth. "Don't touch me, don't touch me, don't touch me…" She muttered over and over again.

"Are you fucking hearing me?" Marisa started softly crying again and then stopped muttering so she could push him away.

The wooden and screen doors at the front of the house slammed behind them. Sora and Kairi removed their soaked jackets they were holding above their heads and looked around the house; shards of glass china, vases and other pottery or fragile adornments coated the floor. Her fathers desk had been opened and ransacked, papers scattered everywhere on and around the desk. Kairi dropped her jacket and bag and looked towards her tousled and distraught looking mother and her furious father. She scanned the room again,

"…What happened…?" Kairi asked softy and confused. Sora stood by the door, unsure of what to do in this kind of position. Marisa starred at the kids worriedly, not sure of what to say. The father looked at Kairi and Sora as well, but then started to smile,

"Don't worry about it, it was jus—"

"I'm leaving, and I am taking all the children with me!" Marisa starred coldly at the father of the household, she started to cough,

"Kairi, your father has just proven his disloyalty towards me," Marisa tried to stop crying, but the words were just so painful for her.

"…What?" Kairi was beginning to look really worried though. Her mother saw this and just started to think of what could happen next.

Kairi stood there shaking her head, her violet glossy eyes quivered as well. She was so confused, _'how could this happen?'_ She closed her eyes and gulped, taking it all in, and then took deep breaths. _'I don't understand…'_ Warmth gingerly touched her shoulders. Sora didn't know what to do other than just comfort Kairi, it felt so awkward for him to be in the middle of all of this.

He softly spoke, "Kairi—"

"Kairi!" Her step mother interrupted, both mauve and sapphire eyes looked up, "Meet your brother and sister on their way home and go back to Sora's house." Marisa then turned and fixed her angry eyes on her ex-husband, "Cause we'll be leaving soon."

XXX

Marisa ended up leaving Ptolemor, but not with all of her children; Kairi was left behind. Marisa fought and fought to win her in court but the judge decided on her own that it was only fair that the father got to keep one child to take care of him and the house. Everyone cried the day Marisa, Rikku and Tidus left. The two little blondes latched onto the redhead and wept, no one wanted to see **anyone **being left behind. Marisa brought Kairi and Sora together in front of her, she knelt down and looked both of them in the eyes,

"Remember, you two; if you ever need anything, you can come to me."

Kairi took deep breaths and Sora's expression was one in deep thought, but both answered nodding their heads. Sora and Kairi watched their train depart, they stood on the platform until the train disappeared.

"I'm not going to cry anymore." Sora turned to Kairi, a little confused, but she kept starring down the empty tracks.

"What are you saying?" Sora transferred all of his attention to her but she kept her eyes fixed on the tracks, "Kairi?" She didn't answer though.

_'What's happening?' _ Sora asked himself as he fiddled with the little white barrette inside his pocket.

XXX

_A couple of weeks later…_

Sora took the hose and doused his head. He was around the back of the house, and it was another hot day, and it was especially hot now at noon. He blindly reached for a towel he rested on the porch rail. He groped around the rail and then gave up and threw down the hose.

"Does it look weird?" Sora flew up his head to see a blurry figure,

"Oh, Here." The figure held out something white, Sora took the towel and started wiping his face,

"What's up, Kai?--" He removed the cloth from his face and examined her,

"Wow" Sora said shakily and a bit shocked, "Your hair! It's--"

"Does it really look that bad," She lightly touched the sides of her head, "Aerith cut it too short…" Kairi stood dressed in a pair of new baby blue kaprees and a frilly white shirt with a bow in the back, her hair, not a shoulder length cut but now a short shag that stopped just below her chin.

"It's not too short." Sora commented as he finished wiping the last of his face, "I think it looks good like that, actually." Sora grinned his famous grin. Kairi's eyes grew a little wide, "Really? It looks good?"

"Yeah," Sora walked over to Kairi but before he could continue Kairi interrupted, "Wow, Sora. You're getting tall!" Sora stopped in front of her and gave a look of confusion, as to how the subject changed from her hair to his height.

"Look," Kairi's hand followed an imaginary line, leading from the top of her head to his. You could see the dramatic angle the hand drew as she compared heights; it was between two to three inches, "Man, you're going to be getting tall… I swear at the beginning of the year we were the exact height." She used her hand to comb through her hair, and Sora proudly smiled.

"But don't get too cocky, the hair probably adds a couple inches." She said smirking.

The first couple of weeks after Marisa left Aerith would visit the house and teach Kairi various chores a woman would have to do. She taught her how to cook meals and how to properly take care of the livestock and crops. Since Ansem was going so easy on Sora lately, whenever Sora finished his chores he would go over to Kairi's to help. Kairi's father though, seemed to get more and more depressed, and who could blame him after Marisa left.

A year and some months later passed and it was that time of the year again. Every fall, traders would come from all sorts of different districts to buy the crops and livestock goods Ptolemor harvested. Sora was asked to drive the sheep into town so they could be professionally sheared and have their coats sold. Why shouldn't Ansem send him? After all he was old enough now. He would be staying at Aerith and Cloud's for the weekend while it was done.

He woke up at six in the morning to start his walk into town; it would take at least half of the day to get there and pay to have the sheep separately marked and pinned for shearing.

Sora started his journey on the dusty trail, kind of looking forward for a weekend off in Traverse Town. The long walk was very tiresome and hot though. There was a breeze, but it wasn't very strong. The outskirts of the town started to come into vision. From now on, Sora stood on the side of the dirt road, while more cars whizzed by.

Sora was now inside the ends of the messy little town and started to ask directions towards the Wool Works Company of Ptolemor **(A/N: Yeah, I know 'Wool Works Company', I am just super creative, right?) **

Sora could see that most of the pins were filling up, so he quickly herded the sheep into a corner pin. He counted the sheep again, just to be sure, and called to the collie that came trotting happily out of the pin. Sora looked at the black and white collie, poor thing hadn't had a drink all day.

"Filled out the paperwork yet?" Sora turned around, a large bearded white man with a bit of a potbelly stood in front of him. He had a big red pickle shaped nose, it grew red at the tip. He also had the rosiest cheeks with a grin from ear to ear. Sora looked him examined him, his eyes scanned his body up and down.

"Sir?" Sora asked, his voice cracked at the end and he quickly grabbed the sore throat, _'Damn it, I hate it when that happens!'_

"Filled out the paperwork yet?" The man kept grinning and even added a chuckle at the end. Now he was starting to remind Sora of Santa clause,

"Uh, no sir I haven't yet…" Sora was still rubbing his throat, trying to give a grin.

"Oh, well then just fill this out here, and put your information and your company or family name, you are registered in Traverse Town, right?" The large red-nosed man handed a clipboard to Sora along with a pen. Sora took it and smiled thanking him, "Yeah our name is." The red man chuckled again and peeked down on the form Sora was scribbling on.

"So how old are you, young man?" His chipper attitude clashed with his low and raspy voice. Sora didn't look up from the clip board,7

77"Fourteen."

77"Really? Fourteen?" He bellowed, and straightened his stance placing his hands across his chest or more like resting them on his protruding stomach. He was wearing a sweat stained wife beater, with a pair of tan trousers.7 His suspenders lied limp on each side. Sora had on a pair of raggedy old cargo shorts, and scuffed up sneakers. His dirty white t-shirt fell over his lean frame. His skin was very tan, and his body; very toned.

"Brings me back…" The man's eyes drifted out of focus for a moment as he trailed off. Sora looked up once or twice, and then continued filling out the form. With his eyes still looking off into space the man kept talking,

"You know, you are about to live the best years of your life,"

_'The best years of your life…' _

Sora ignored the last comment and kept writing, the man was very friendly and everything, it's just that Sora really wanted to check out the town.

"How much do think it's going to for a head?" Sora completed the form and handed the clipboard back to the large man. The large man hesitated answering his question and read over the form, flipping sheets to see if everything was correctly filled out. Then his eyes grew wide, and he looked back at Sora,

"We're thinkin' this year's gonna be about four dollars a single," Sora looked disappointed, _'thought at least it would go to five…'_, "but seeing how your Ansem's boy, how about eight per head?" Sora's face lightened up, he choked,

"Ei-eight?" Sora asked, maybe he heard differently… but no! The man replied with a slight nod! Eight dollars? Is he serious? With about thirty-five sheep that's like two hundred and eighty right there! We're rich, totally rich!

"Thank you sir, thank you very much!" Sora shook the man's great palm with two hands,

"That's no trouble at all, you can come in here, in about two days and we should have everything ready for you… Alright?" Yes, there is a plus to being Ansem's slave for such a long time. Oh thank God.

He then nodded his head, anxious to leave and go into town, "Well, thank you for getting me set—"

"Look at those two, discusting… Doesn't a pair of perverts have anything better to do?" His microscopic eyes peered over his rosy cheeks and past Sora, and locked onto some traders standing across the street against small wooden building, they were eying and calling out to local women who walked by. Sora turned around to look, he could only place them as the lowest of the low, just a bunch of morons and losers with nothing better to do then fondle and make crude remarks to girls. That's not just coming from a 'good heart', he does live with three girls, and a man who refused to speak and even thought it was dishonorable to look at other women after his first spouse died.

"One thing bad about this time of the year, outsiders come in and start causing a muck in town, thinkin' they're on vacation or somethin'." He could only agree with the middle-aged man standing next to him.

Suddenly a hand jumped out from by his side and one of the men chassed after a woman's ass. She shrieked and turned around to the man puckering up his lips, giving imaginary kisses and smooches to the air in front of her.

"Hey!" The large man that stood next to Sora moved in on the scene and started criticizing and yelling at the traders. Sora could see from where he was standing that the traders were walking towards him too, yelling back. Sora saw all of this but decided it was best to stay out of it. He and his collie started off down the dirt road into the heart of Traverse Town.

XXX

The next two days were spent in total bliss. Sora got lost downtown and used a bit of spending money he saved up to but some new clothing and sneakers. He might not have gotten the new hot styles imported from the urban districts but these threads would keep him clothed for the next year at least. He stayed at Aerith Cloud's for the weekend, eating the most exquisite food; he could taste Marisa's recipes and tricks in the cooking. He also had a room all to himself: it was fantastic! After collecting the money on the third day, he asked the workers there if he could just keep the sheep here for another night. Other than the total crowded streets from the traders and such, this weekend was just the kind of vacation Sora needed.

Sora walking with Cloud downtown when something shimmered out of the corner of his eye. It was a jewel glittering in a store window. His eyes moved up to read the store name, _Rebecca Originals_. The glare of the jewel pulled Sora across the street towards the window. He gazed into the glass, upon a small, shiny yellow orb that hung on a single. It glowed. It was sitting in the middle of the display, next to it a small folded card read, "_The_ _Yellow Canary Island Pearl… Imported… $xxx.xx"_ He starred into his reflection on the pearl,

"Who's it for?" Cloud spoke behind him, hands in pockets. Sora looked back at him and then at the pearl. The one person that entered his thoughts when he saw it was Kairi. Her birthday is in a couple of months anyways, this would make the **perfect** gift. He fiddled with the small barrette in his shorts pocket, should he buy it? '_Of course' _He thought, _'she's worth every penny and more…' _His best friend would flip after she saw this.

"Don't tell anyone about this, Cloud…" Sora turned to him after the man gave Sora the now gift wrapped necklace.

"I won't," Cloud pushed the store bell open, the bells on the handle softly jingled,

"I'm really serious about this, if my 'dad' finds out he will have my head for it." Cloud promised again that he wouldn't tell a soul and then turned to Sora and added,

"You deserve giving this gift. You've done a lot, this is also your reward."

But all vacations must come to an end, and on the fourth day Sora left for home. Aerith hugged him and told him to greet Yuffie and the other children for her, Cloud placed a hand on a shoulder and sarcastically said to him to get a job and stop freeloading off of other people; all three of them laughed.

He walked alongside the road with the pink-naked sheep and the black and white collie. Cars whizzed by and by again. Some just coming in and others leaving Ptolemor with truckloads of goods.

Sora arrived at the house at about three o' clock in the afternoon. He was first greeted by Rinoa who ran up and hug him, asking if he brought anything back for her. Second was Yuffie, wanting to know how much money he managed to bargain for. And last was Ansem who Sora directly went to.

For the past two years Sora was safe from Ansem's beatings. Well, there were the occasional punches to the back of the head, but it's DEFINITELY way better than what it used to be. Even though it's been a long time since a beating, Sora's heart would still pound rapidly over and over when Ansem was near.

It was doing that now; thumping, beating, thrashing about inside. He approached the small wooden house with the wrap-around porch and trotted up the steps. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded envelope, extended his hand and waited for Ansem to take it. The man had not smiled or greeted Sora or even say hello, he just took the envelope and Sora's greeting would depend on what lied inside.

Ansem poked a finger inside the top of the replacement envelope. Sora's mind raced as his finger slid slowly across, tearing the envelope's 'skull' right open. His hand went in for the dissection and he slowly pulled out some small bills, twenties to be exact. Sora held his breath as he flipped through the bills and counted to himself. Without wrecking his count Ansem spoke,

"How much did you manage to get?" Ansem's voice seemed more cruel and mean than usual. Sora started to stumble over his words,

"Uh, t-two hundred, yeah…" Yuffie's gasp sounded in the backround, she admired the money from the bottom of the steps. Sora wiped off his hands on his shirt while still counting the money with Ansem; the whole scene and process seemed to travel in slow motion. Ansem's eyes flickered up at Sora's, Sora quickly shifted weight back and forth,

"Oh, uh, I mean sir." Ansem flipped through the last bill, and starred down at the wad of money.

Slowly,

Ansem

nodded,

in approval.

He took one last look at Sora and then turned and walked inside the house, letting the screen door slam behind him. Sora let out a huge exhale. Yuffie and Rinoa paraded around Sora,

"Two hundred bucks! We're rich! How did you manage to get all that money off of our crappy sheep!" Yuffie excitedly asked.

"Don' know, just luck I guess!" Sora was so relieved that Ansem had not found out about the money, **_thank God…_**

XXX

"Where's Tifa?" Sora asked Yuffie as they walked back from the sheep pins. They rounded the corner of the house, picked up Sora's bags from town and started walking down the porch towards his room.

"Oh she's in here," Sora entered his room and was about to start another, "_I have to have a room by my self now, you need to stay in yours. Respect…" ect. ect.. _

But before he could start, she grinned and dramatically motioned towards him, "Sora!" but something held her back.

"Hi Sora." Kairi spoke she was sitting on his bed, braiding Tifa's hair.

"Stop moving so much, Tifa!" Kairi giggled, "You're messing up your braid!" Sora walked into his room and dropped his bags near the other, unoccupied, bed.

"Kai, what are you doing here?" Kairi finished braiding Tifa's hair, Tifa jumped off of the bed and ran over to Sora, tackling him in the stomach. An 'Ugh' sound followed from Sora but he gently hugged her back,

"My dad was tired and has been sleeping all day…" Kairi turned to face Sora and dangled her legs over the side of the bed, she was wearing dark blue jeans, a pink shirt and a small fitting black jacket, even if it was lightweight, Sora still wondered how she could ever bare to wear such an outfit in this heat.

"So I thought I would skip my chores and hang out with Yuffie until you came back." The nineteen year old called over to Tifa and they both left the room giggling. Kairi hopped off the bed,

"There better be something for me in all of those shopping bags." She tried t ask serious.

"Oh c'mon, it's like three bags…" Sora argued, ignoring the 'buy me something' part of the comment.

XXX

The rest of the day was spent mostly in the kitchen. Yuffie and Kairi washed dishes and after that started to prepare supper. They did this while listening to what Sora did in Traverse Town, and during that Sora was playing cards with Rinoa. Tifa fell asleep on the couch. It was a day of relaxation over all. Sora asked Kairi if she needed to go home many times, but she insisted that she wasn't needed there yet and that she have fun here, even if it was washing dishes…

XXX

Sora's P.O.V. 

After supper Kairi and I decided to go outside on the porch and talk some more. We rambled on about pointless things, and that's when I noticed how late it was getting.

"Hey the sun is starting to go down…" I noticed and then turned my vision from the sun to Kairi, she wasn't smiling anymore,"Do you want me to walk you home?" When I asked her she looked disappointed, like she didn't want to leave or something. But she had to go; her father needed her, he couldn't bare another woman walking out of his life.

"Yeah, okay.." She was unsure…

We walked back around the porch so I could grab a jacket, and I swear, there was so much tension surrounding us. I felt like I couldn't breath, it was such a gloomy and depressing atmosphere surrounding us. Where did all this come from? Was it coming from her? Kairi?

We stepped and Kairi sat on my bed a minute. I rustled through a bag I had brought into town and grabbed my black jacket. I turned around and saw Kairi biting on her nails starring at the ground. Her eyes were glazed over, her body tensed up for a minute and she scrunched up her face to the floor.

"Kairi?" I grabbed her attention, she innocently looked up to me and then back at the ground, before tears started escaping her eyes.

"What's up with you?" A warm question. She glanced back at me once and then had to look away. She choked on her words,

"N-nothing's wrong." She sniffed after her sentence, and her heavy breathing became shaky and weak, trying to hold back the tears. I slowly walked over to the bad and sat down facing her. I was so confused everything was going fine, what was up? She was still looking the other way,

"I'm just really missing my mom right now.." She said maybe a little too fast. Deep in thought, I hesitated a moment longer than necessary,

"Really, what is it?" I lightly touched her arm and she flinched. She then turned to me with wet violet eyes and shaky breathing. I starred back at her until she broke down, "Sora," She sad sobbing helplessly, she continued with sniffing and coughing on her sobs. She continued with those three words I would never ever want to slip out of her lips,

"I was raped."

Chapter 1: 96 Tears… End.

XXX

DUN, DUN, DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN….

YEAH! ON WITH THE TRAGEDY AND ANGST! I bet you guys liked this chapter better than the last, no? Well the next one is even better! So keep on reading and such… Oh and during this chapter I listened to a lot of Pilotdirft – great band, no wait… AN AWESOME BAND, if I had to describe it, it would be like a cross between David Bowie and the White Stripes. They aren't very big yet, I think their first album came out last September; so they are pretty new. I was also listening mostly to The Strokes – Another terrific band, way more known than Pilotdrift. Ahem, Fabrizio is sexy…. ANYWAYS, check them out, they were my muses for this chapter. Good bands, good bands.

The next chapter opens up the whole story, all the way. Well, either that one or the one after it. So please, keep reading.

OH! And I want to thank everyone that reviewed the first chapter. YOU ARE GOOD PEOPLE! You don't know how much one little review from a person does for me, IT BRINGS SUCH HAPPINESS!

So I'll stop talking now, BE SAFE KIDS AND KEEP READING!

Later Days!


	3. Who the Cap Fit

Have fun with it.

**_Disclaimer:_** Kingdom Hearts, I, and own can not be put alone in one sentence. (_Unless it was 'Kingdom Hearts own I', but that is grammatically incorrect and I don't really want to get into that…_) So, I don't own it and… yeah.

**A/N: - Authors Notes. **

'_thoughts'_

"dialog"

_emphasis_

**emphasis**

and look! more **_emphasis_**

Chapter 2: Who the Cap Fit

_Sora's P.O.V._

"What'd you say?" I asked, did she just say what I think she said? Am I in denial? She's sitting here crying in my room, eyes on me, they are shrieking for help. _And **I**_ can't even remember what she said,

"Sora," She cries more and more, warm tears fall in her lap. I stare at the darkened circle on her jeans, and then lift my eyes up to hers. Her eyes are bleeding tears, she's screaming for help and I suddenly remember why.

"I was—" I pull her in close and save her from reliving the word again. I hold her so tight. She leans on me and starts crying again, hot tears soak my shirt. She clamped her hands around my back and dug her chin into my shoulder, so I just did the same and tightened my grip. She started chocking on air, and I was thinking at first that maybe I was holding her too tight.

But that couldn't be; she needed someone to be there for her. Hysterical, Kairi dug her fingers into my back and started crying louder and harder. When that happened my eyes started to sting, but I took a deep breath and grit my teeth. Everything had happened so fast. How could I possibly know what she was going through? I had to be strong for her. She had just lost everything. I wanted to ask questions but I couldn't right now. I had to be sure of myself. But still, even though I knew I needed to be strong and confident that everything would be okay, even though I knew I needed to do all of that for her, I still wondered; how could this happen?

'_What's happening?'_

How can I be this calm? What's wrong with me? My best friend has just gotten, she has just been… My eyes widen and I pull her away from my hold and take ahold of her sleeves. She had been wearing that sweater all day. Kairi has been trying to hold back her crying, and is just chocking on air now. When I grab her sleeves she gasps again and I scrunch them back. Kairi winces. There are bruises all over her arms, I move my eyes up to hers.

I know that she needs someone to comfort her, that she doesn't want to talk about it or try and remember it… But she has to explain it soon otherwise she'll forget.

"Kai," I say as calmly as I can, "Who did this?" She shakes her head, I am still sitting across from her holding her palms. Her eyes are fixed on the floorboards. I'm still waiting for an answer, "I don't remember." Her voice is small and weak; that must be how she is feeling. She has calmed down a bit, she's gasping for air still, it sounds like the hiccups actually. I lean back and still stare into her eyes which seem out of focus.

"You don't remember who did it? Anything?" A look of disgust crosses my face. My sadness shifts into anger.

"No…" A series of shaky breaths take place. I understand. It's like when someone is put into any kind of stressful situation, their fist instinct is to worry about themselves. Not to focus on the person's structure, hair color, height, clothing. I am thinking to myself, how can a person do such a disgusting thing; sick son of a bitch! Kairi ripped her hands away from mine and clamped her hands on her eyes. She started leaning in and was about to fall over. I lightly touch her shoulders, and she starts sobbing loudly again. She lifts up her head and I pull her into another embrace,

"Kai… I'm so… sorry."

I've got to be strong. For her.

XXX

_Sora POV (continue)_

Kairi holds onto the railing as she takes the last step off of the porch. She's squeezing my hand so tightly, if it wasn't so dark I bet her knuckles would be turning white. She has calmed down a lot. It's mostly sniffs and shaky breaths.

"Sora?" Yuffie's footsteps clump against the wooden porch. I see her turning the corner, and the hair on my neck starts to stand on end. I place my hands firmly on Kairi's shoulders and look into her eyes, she's drifting off into space again.

"Kairi," I try and get her attention, while still trying to be as gentle as I can— instead she starts to panic.

"No one knows Sora, please--"

"Hey, calm down, don't worry about it; no one is going to know about it, alright?" I nervously lick my lips and glance up at Yuffie; coming closer, "try to be strong, Kai…" I leave her at the foot of the porch and run up the steps. I stop Yuffie from coming any closer.

"Sora, is everything alright? I thought I heard—"

"What are you talking about?" I say quietly but fast paced, Ansem's asleep you know… She lunges towards to the left, but I interfere and block her from taking another step closer. My voice was shaky and I was acting really jumpy, I could tell **and **I could tell that Yuffie could tell.

"Okay," Her eyes glanced over at Kairi who held back her small whimpers. She held both of her arms and didn't dare to look over in our direction. Yuffie, now nineteen, didn't really have any interest in hanging out with a little fourteen-year-old brother. It's true, I barley talk to her now; the past couple of years I only really talked about important things to Kairi. But Yuffie has grown a lot, I wonder when she'll move out of this place. I know she doesn't want to stay in this dump… Huh? What am I doing? THINK KAIRI, SORA! I step back, turn on my heel and start moving over to Kairi,

"I'll be back," My voice is still jumpy, quiet; barely above a whisper, "Just, just taking Kairi home…" Yuffie stands and watches me and Kairi until we're outside the gate and on our way down the dirt road.

XXX

_Sora POV (cont.)_

It's quiet right now. All I can hear is Kairi's occasional snivels, and when I do, I put my arm around her and tell her everything is going to be okay. But my mind is still drifting, like it's refusing to think about the situation. Am I still in denial? I am. I don't want to believe any of this happened, and right now it still feels like a dream. All so unreal. The wind is light and musical with the chirps and squeaks of the nocturnal. The sky is lit up with a thousand stars, and the moon, isn't quite full, but lights up the road as if it were day.

All of the sudden, I notice I am walking alone and turn around to find Kairi stopped a couple feet back. I walk back to her but before I can speak she beats me to it,

"Sora," Deep breath, "why can't I just stay at your house?" Suddenly a new thought enters my head, "Kairi, does your dad know about this?" She's silent, I continue, "He's going to be worried if your not back soon anyway," Kairi is starring at the ground holding her arms. "Have you gone into town for the police?" Whatever I am saying right now must be traveling through one ear and out the other cause her expression is still the same; blank, "Kai," I put a hand on each shoulder to grab her attention, but she is still starring at the ground, "I'm always going to be here, I'm not going anywhere. Okay?" Her eyes start filling up with tears, and she locks her eyes onto mine. After a deep shaky breath and a slight nod she starts walking like a zombie again, down the road, to the empty, lonely house.

XXX

It hit him in the morning. Yes. His eyes were stinging all day, his throat was tied up in a knot, and he occasionally would have to stop his work and rest his hands on his head and take in deep breaths. About once or twice he thought he was crying without even knowing it, but he wasn't, not yet, his eyes were dry and sent tingling senses throughout his body. He didn't answer when others spoke to him and barely did any of his chores right. Sora wondered how he ever managed to get to sleep last night, had it really taken him this long to realize? Realize that his friend he has known since he moved into this house, the one that would let him forget about his chores, and would go up to the river, climb trees with and would joke and cause mischief with has just been raped? Other members of the household couldn't read his dull expression on his face. The girls would question his behavior, but he seemed to be in a trance, and either would not answer or would reply with a grunt or mumble.

He entered the kitchen, still in the zombie trance, where Yuffie was washing dishes, and filled up a glass of water. Yuffie shifted over to other side of the sink, eyeing Sora worriedly, and kept starring until he fished the glass and took a deep breath. She didn't start scrubbing right away. Sora slammed the glass on the counter, not meaning to make such a loud clatter, looked in deep thought at the glass and then held it out to Yuffie. She starred at the glass before taking it, Sora didn't notice, he returned to whatever he was deep in thought with before and had his eyes fixed on the floorboards directly in front of his feet. His arm started to get heavy and he noticed the glass was still in his hand, he looked up towards Yuffie. She was eyeing him weirdly, and Sora awkwardly took the cup back into both of his hands,

"You okay, Yuffie?" His voice was hoarse and dry, he cleared his sore throat; the glass of water didn't do anything. He lightly touched it, glancing at the floor and then back at Yuffie, he was unsure of what might be going on around the house and was feeling a bit uncomfortable right now with Yuffie not talking. Yuffie finally moved and gently let go off the dishes which gently floated to the bottom of the filled sink. She wiped her hands on a sloppy apron hung around her neck,

"Sora," she started and wiped off her forehead, "What's with you lately?" She placed a hand on the side of the sink while Sora swung the faucet to his side and started rinsing out his glass,

"I'm fine," He cleared his throat, still rough and dry. Yuffie shifted her weight onto one foot annoyed and tilted her head, about to say something but got beat to it, "You," Another cough and fist thrown at his chest, "you want me to help with the dishes?" Yuffie gave another impatient look, of course she was really really annoyed that he wouldn't tell her, but what could she do? She thought that he could come to her for anything, but soon she would figure out that Sora would need to leave her and everything else behind.

"Sure." She threw a hand towards the sink and started scrubbing. Sora started washing too. It was silent for awhile but soon Sora would crack a joke and they would try and forget about eachothers problems, of course that was impossible. Thoughts of Kairi lingered in the back of Sora's mind.

It wasn't that awkward anymore, until Ansem came walking through the kitchen, "Hi daddy." Yuffie sweetly said, the hairs on Sora's neck stood on end, he thought it was about Sora's chores… But instead he walked in took a glass of lemonade out of the fridge. It was silent in the kitchen, you could only hear the clatter of dishes and the sound of water splashing up against the sides of the sink. A low voice boomed,

"When are you going to meet a nice boy, Yuffie?" Yuffie did a dramatic sigh and Ansem unfolded and refolded his paper and began to read. He placed his reading glasses on the tip of his nose, his hair was pulled back into a sweaty ponytail and his suspenders were at the sides of his waist. He was wearing a white shirt and raggedy old trousers ripped and paint stained.

"Dad—"

"Or are you just going to stay here and take care of your old man.. Now there's an idea!" Yuffie laughed and Sora dried dishes with a nervous smile. It was really awkward having this comfortable atmosphere put on him with Ansem around.

"Hey isn't that Kairi and her dad?" Sora looked up from washing dishes and saw two people riding in a truck bouncing and kicking up dust along the dirt road.

"So it is." Ansem replied, put down the newspaper, got up from the table and exited the room. Sapphire eyes followed until he left. Sora gripped the edge of the sink. Why are they coming this way? Town's in the other direction! What's wrong?

"Yuffie…uh, Where's Tifa and Rinoa?"

"Quinn's house…Why?"

"Cross the bridge?"

"Yeah, why though?" Sora took the mug Yuffie handed to him and started drying,

"Just haven't seen them today…"

XXX

Kairi's P.O.V 

Oh god, oh god! What am I going to do! We're getting closer and closer to the house! What's he planning? I look at the mad man driving the piece of junk along the road. How could he do this to me? Awful, awful! We are getting closer. My heart is racing, I am so on edge right now…

We arrive at the house, and my father is so angry, so upset, I just don't know; what's going to happen? What am I going to do? How can I stop this?

My father marched right up to the house, Sora's stepfather had a big grin on his face and was just about to close the screen door on his way out until my father stomped in. What is he going to do? I rushed up the steps and hear my father yelling and Sora's trying to figure out why. I hope Sora is somewhere far away and safe. What have I done?

"Snead, what's with you?" the 6'4 man was confused, my father pointed a finger up at him and then into the other rooms of the house,

"I don't want to ever see your boy with my daughter, ever!" I stood in the back near the screen door, I was so scared, so scared. Not for me, for him. He got so angry, what was he going to do to Sora? My heart feels as though it's going to pop out of my chest, the conversation keeps droning on giving bits and pieces of false information – lies, disgusting, untrue, repulsive horrible lies! My chest was moving up and down, up and down. My hands are collecting so much moisture, I can't stand it any longer!

"What did you say?" Sora's father was intimidating, he was, he was always. It's not from the little information Sora might accidentally spill out. It's not the intimidating height, or the low and deep voice. It's those eyes; bright, yellow; alert.

"You're boy touched my daughter." Those eyes, the yellow ones, they moved towards me and locked.

Sora's father turned around and started heading in towards the kitchen. I started to cry violently ran forwards towards him,

"It's not true! Not true! He didn't do it! Sora didn' --" My father yanked me back by my arm. It hurt. The bruises are still there from…

"Kairi, quite helping him!" He bent at his waist a little and took me by the shoulders, I wish **he**would stop touching me, pretending to help, "You don't have to be afraid of him. He isn't gonna touch you again." Bastard, trying to act like a father - -

"**_SOOOOORA!_**" Ansem calls out. My head jerks to the doorway that leads to the kitchen and my eyes, I know, grow wide in fear. I hear a crash,

"Dad! What are you doing! What's going on! Let go of him!"

Yuffie's yelling. I hear someone land a punch or two. The other person grunt. I know it's him! I try and wiggle myself free from my fathers grip, but he doesn't let go! It hurts. "DAD STOP!" Yuffie calls out. Suddenly, Sora is dragged out into the living room with one of Ansem's hands clasped around his head and the other holding his arm behind his back, and is rammed into the ground in front of me, he looks up and our eyes meet. Sora quickly turns away and keeps his eyes to the ground. He has a busted lip, and a cheek was swelling up already. Tears violently escape my eyes,

"He didn't do it!" I scream, while sobbing. The father picks him up by twisting his arm. A soft grunt escapes his lips and I'm the only one to notice. He looks away as he stands up, why is he always doing that? He doesn't want me to watch, he doesn't want me to see all the things that go on in this house. God! This is awful! Sora's stepfather then knees him in the stomach. The wind is knocked out of him and he falls to the ground gasping for air, holding his stomach. A foot flies, my arm is twisted and all I see is Sora falling backwards and my father's leg extended. He kicked him right in the chin. Sora's 'father' has released him and now he tries to get to his **knees** on his own. He coughs and spits on the floor, a trail of blood runs down to his chin.

Ansem picks him up by the collar and holds him up. Sora's legs are like noodles dragging on the ground.

"PUT HIM DOWN!" Yuffie screams as she enters the room. She takes steps towards my father and myself,

"Sora would never do such a disgusting thing!" I look closer and now I can see that Yuffie is trying to hold back the tears as well. Her head whips around towards Ansem still holding Sora, who is breathing heavily,

"He wasn't even here when it happened! He was in town, remember, Doing deliveries **_for you!_**" My dad was now in a frenzy.

"He was in town for far too long," Ansem starred cold into Sora's eyes, "Sick little bitch."

"I'm the sick bitch?" Sora gasped. He grabbed Ansem's wrists and got his two feet firm on the ground, "I do everything you ask me to do, I put up with your beatings and thrashes, all your crap!" Ansem's eyes got meaner looking, and you could tell that he didn't like Sora standing up to him, "I've bared all of that, but I won't ever let you say that I hurt **_her._** She's the only one that gives a damn!" Sora gritted his teeth and starred long and hard into Ansem's eyes. My father released me and the blood rushed back into my arm. Dad grabbed the back of Sora's neck and rammed his face straight into the ground. He grabbed his arm and started twisting it behind his back. I couldn't see Sora's face but I could hear his soft muffled grunts, he was holding back so much.

"SORA!" But my father, the merciless beast, did not hold back; he kept stretching and twisting his arm until a loud pop sounded throughout the room. Sora shouted out. I felt as though my heart stopped, I mean, for a second I couldn't move or breath or think, my whole body shut down. I could only hear that repulsive pop, that loud crack, oh I started to shudder then. Yuffie rushed towards my dad but he pushed her off and Ansem grabbed her arm as well as mine and led us outside. Yuffie quickly grabbed her fathers arm before he rushed back inside and pleaded,

"Dad, don't do this! He didn't do it! He didn't! He was in town the whole time! Please, please!" She started to cry. And so did I. I stomped my foot like a child,

"He didn't do it!" Why was no one listening to me? This is so frustrating! HE DIDN"T DO IT! He's being tortured for god's sake.

"HE DIDN'T DO IT!" I screamed, and clawed after Sora's father. Even with his harsh actions towards Sora, he acted so gentle towards frantic and crazy me, he lightly set me aside and stepped back inside. Yuffie was right, he really did like girls better than boys… OH BUT THAT'S NOT ENOUGH! What's going to happen to Sora? Yuffie rammed her shoulder into the door, but it wouldn't budge, it was locked from the inside. She started banging on the door, yelling and screaming. I dropped to the floorboards and cried. Cried for so long.

XXX

"Sooooooora" Yuffie slid the huge broken barn door open. She picked the bucket of water, a bundle of towels and bandages back up and headed towards the back of the barn.

"Sora!" Yuffie suddenly remembered the door and placed everything on the ground again.

He felt the barn walls shake and his eyes slowly slipped open. Around him there was scraps of old leftover hay. The pale brown planks broken and filled with holes made up the walls and the aroma of manure filled the vast empty barn. He leaned up in his cot and instantly felt the pain echo throughout his body. He heard the squeaking of the rope and pulley.

"Sora? You awake?" Sora propped up on an elbow and looked towards the bucket that levitated at the edge of the loft. Below, Yuffie tied the rope and started up the latter, holding the bundles of towels and bandages under her arm. Once she reached the top she untied the bucket and stumbled over to Sora with the heavy bucket with both hands. She kneeled next to his cot and Sora struggled to sit all the way up just using one arm. Yuffie started unfolding the towels in her lap, she was a bit out of breath from carrying the bucket from the house to all the way out here.

"Morning" She managed to spurt out in one breath. She looked up from what she was doing and gave Sora a warm smile. Sora noticed that she was wearing a dress. It was a nice deep violet color, but it lacked the white collar; Yuffie never like to wear those frilly long-sleeved blouses underneath. **(A/N: Sorry about my lack of vocabulary, but really, I don't know what it's called…)**

"Now I'm going to have to do your arm first, I haven't prepared lunch yet."

Yuffie lightly held Sora's thick-bandaged arm, temporary in the stiff shape of an "L", and started unwrapping the many layers. Sora slowly sat up, trying not to disturb the wonderful and kind Yuffie, the only one that really stayed by Sora's side to make sure he was safe, to make sure he would be well, that he would survive. Well, her and Kairi of course. Kairi. Sora was not allowed to speak or see her any longer. After the episode they would never let him near her again. After the episode he would stay in this barn. After the episode Ansem would kick Sora out on of the house, bloodied up, injured and broken. Sora didn't know what to do. He could barely walk, he had a broken arm and many serious and non-serious injuries that he was well aware of, maybe even some that he wasn't. So Yuffie walked him to the abandoned barn that was two corn fields away from the house. It was their property but they had just never used it nor knew what to do with it yet. So the barn stayed.

Sora winced as Yuffie unwrapped almost the last of the bandage. When she was done she lightly held it and looked at it intently.

"It still hurts, huh?" she said while still examining the arm lightly pressing it in some areas. Once she was finished she lightly laid it down beside Sora and turned to the bucket of water and towels. She dipped the edge of a ratty old towel in the bucket of lukewarm water and was going to start washing down Sora's arm. A hot tingling sensation went through Sora's body as Yuffie gingerly patted his arm. He gritted his teeth and whenever the 'burning' cloth touched his sensitive, tender skin, he would gasp through his teeth.

"Oh quit being such a baby," Yuffie joked. When she finished she re-wrapped his arm, doing several layers. This was a long boring process and Sora spaced out during this. His attention was focused on the opposite wall of the barn, the section just above the huge rickety doors. First he counted the number of vertical planks that made up the wall, then he counted all the visible holes. Next he averaged the number of holes for every plank. He came with the result of every four planks there was one hole. Fifty-two planks in total, and fourteen holes. Maybe fourteen, he recounts, yeah yeah, it's the same number. Some of them he can't quite make out, but—

"Sora," He wiped his head back around towards Yuffie, it looked like she had been calling him for a while with that annoyed face. She examines his face, which had a busted lip and a black eye. The black eye was a light green and was clearing up quickly, his busted lip was swelling down along with his cheek. His head didn't need to be wrapped anymore and he was getting a lot better a lot faster then he thought he would. Sora now concentrates on the floorboards. So detailed. All the planks had different designs, different patterns with the age telling rings that used to form perfect circles in the huge tree; it must have been. Must have been big. Different. Maybe really old and wise, intelligent and gave a lot of advice. Or maybe it had odd color fruits and leaves, where birds and animals perched and pecked and gave a rhythm to their environment, a beat, a pulse, a feeling to their surroundings. Maybe a quiet tree, where kids would climb up and in and over branches, building tree houses, or they would rest under and read books, maybe where two kids carved each others name into, or - -

"Ow," Sora jerked his arm away from Yuffie and glared,

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't hit it hard," Yuffie had pulled her hands back from Sora's face and elbowed him in the arm. Sora didn't know why he got so angry at that moment. He ignored it and, what if it was just a really lonely tree, like the ones that Sora usually saw out here in Ptolemor, what if it was one of those trees that seemed so out of place, would just pop up in the middle of nowhere in the field, out in the open, and no others around. Alone.

"Sora," Yuffie said impatiently, "Quit spacing out when I'm talking! Alright, I gotta go and I'll be back after dinner sometime to bring you supper." Yuffie waited for a reply, and after a moments hesitation Sora nodded, "'Kay, thanks Yuffie…" Yuffie was about to say something, but she held her tongue and left the towels and water and left. She started heading down the ladder, Sora stumbled out of bed,

"Oh, uh Yuffie I wanna walk around today, Ansem's not doing field work, right?" Yuffie sighed,

"Walk around the loft, Sora."

"I've been up here for weeks! I wanna get out of here, I'm going insane!"

"Sora,"

"Yuffie!"

"No, you can't. Dad is still suspicious." She said firmly and calm.

"Well, I feel so trapped up here! Just let me walk around for awhile! I promise if I'll be back up here in no time!" Sora always thought that he would love to have a break from working, sleeping all day sounded so nice before. Now he was just bored out of his mind, not to mention stiff and felt even more exhausted than usual.

"Sora, you can't go out. Dad is still angry about the whole thing, just wait awhile 'til he cools down."

"Man, this is so ridiculous." Sora limped a few steps closer, "He's never gonna cool off about this. Now that Ansem thinks he can prove what a worthless, retarded lowlife, pig that I am, do you think he'll let it go?" Yuffie gripped the sides of the ladder, "He doesn't know,"

"No Yuffie, he knows plenty that I didn't do shit to Kairi! He's been waiting for this." Sora lowered his voice a bit, "Now he has an excuse to kick me down and throw me out plus someone to back him up."

"That's not true,"

"Yuffie, why do you keep making up excuses for him? You know he's wrong, you know he's been wrong…"

"Sora," Yuffie said sympathetically,

"No, Yuffie… Man, you're so blind." A confused look came across her face. It was silent for awhile, maybe Sora shouldn't have said anything.

"You know what Sora, if you wanna go outside and break the other three limbs, that's fine by me!" She climbed down the ladder furious,

"It's fine by me, I don't give a damn anymore!" Yuffie shouted on her way out. She exited the barn with the walls shaking. Sora walked back and forth in the loft a couple times, going over the conversation in his head. Yeah, he was right for saying that. It's about time Yuffie realized how much she protected Ansem, how much Sora had to face alone, he didn't have any allies in his own house; that's why he could never stand up to Ansem. He strolled over to his cot and sat down unfolding the towels to start bathing. He stopped and wondered, '_Well, she was just trying to help.'_ Who was Sora to turn Yuffie against her own father? BUT THE FATHER WAS A BEAST! SORA DIDN'T DO ANYTHING, AND HE KNOWS IT! That guy has no conscious, no heart. But Sora has never really yelled at Yuffie like that before. '_She just wanted everyone to get along._' But how could that ever happen? It couldn't…

Sora stripped off his shirt and began to wash down his body, trying to avoid getting his bandaged arm wet.

Well one thing was for sure; '_this whole situation sucks.'_

XXX

It took awhile to get down the stairs, it usually did with one arm. The fresh air hit him like wrecking ball. It felt _so_ great to get out of that smelly, repulsive barn. It was cool and breezy, fall was just beginning to start. He took slow deep breaths and filled his lungs to his content. Air felt so fresh, around his body, Sora felt a million times lighter. He just wanted to dance and parade around the field, it felt so great! He walked around towards the edge of the road, looking both ways. The corn stalks along with the twisting road left the house out of sight. But he knew it was there…

He turned back around towards the barn and was thinking that maybe a nice stroll would solve everything. Then he felt someone's presence,

"Sora?" Kairi walked out from behind the corn stalks. She stumbled off the road towards him, all of her attention was absorbed towards Sora's face.

"Kai?" She dropped the bags she was carrying and ran over to him.

"Ah, Kairi, ARM!" Kairi loosened her grip and stepped back.

"Oh, sorry! Sorry!" She nervously smiled and combed her hair behind her ear.

"What are you doing out here?"

"Well," Kairi started still grinning, "I kept bugging Yuffie about your whereabouts and she told me you were out here. How are you doing anyway?"

"Uh, pretty good I guess. You just come from gathering?"

"Oh," She turned around to go pick up the bag, "Actually, I found out about all of this like five minutes ago. I ran into Yuffie on her way here to give you breakfast." She rummaged through the bag, "She says she apologizes for not having any leftovers, said she needed to go to town." She examined the bag's contents, and pulled out a tall bottle of milk, "A whole bottle?" She lifted an eyebrow,

"Hey my breakfast was in there? How dare you toss it around like that!" Sora said sarcastically. Kairi ignored this remark,

"C'mon a whole bottle?"

"I'm a guy!" Sora snatched the milk away playfully and tied to put it down in one shot. When he was done dribbles of white escaped the corners of his mouth and he used the back of his wrist to wipe them away. Then he strangely inspected the bottle,

"What? It's past its expiration date?" Kairi smirked.

"You would love that, wouldn't you?" He looked up and smiled, "No, actually, I don't know why she gave me a whole bottle either…" '_Probably to make up for before…' _Sora added as an after thought. Kairi poked around through the bag some more,

"You have plenty, I don't know why she was apologizing, was it because she forgot the silver platter and fine china?" Her joyous expression turned grim,

"So, What are you going to do?"

"What do you mean?" Sora walked back to towards the side of the barn and sat down. Kairi followed,

"I mean," She held the back of her skirt as she sat down next to him, "where are you going after this? Where will you stay?"

Sora closed his eyes for minute and thought hard,

"I don't know."

Kairi frowned, "Well are you going to be able to come to school? It starts in a few weeks—"

"I don't know, Kai.." He said glumly.

"Alright," Kairi backed off and leaned against the wall, she held her knees to her chest, wondering how everything could have turned out so horrible.

"Are you alright though, I imagine Yuffie is taking great care of you." Sora fidgeted when he felt Kairi lightly swept his bangs, tickling his face. A light blush of red engulfed his cheeks, he felt a bit embarrassed at first.

"Fine," He tilted his head away from Kairi's hand, he rather not have another person inspecting his wounds.

"What about you?"

"Alight, I guess."

A moment of silence,

"Anyways, let's see what we have for breakfast…"

"We?" Sora questioned but Kairi just gave him a lazy look and pulled out a loaf of bread. She placed he hands in the center of the loaf broke in half with some difficulty. She handed the larger piece to Sora and started to nibble on her own. She pulled the bread away and examined it,

"It's stale." Kairi said a bit disappointed. Sora squeezed it and noticed it too, but he shrugged and took a large bite out of the loaf. You could see that it was difficult to chew, his jaw dramatically open and shut, trying to grind and break down the bread upon, what seemed now, brittle and fragile teeth. Once Sora finished with a throbbing jaw he turned to Kairi,

"Well, are you going to eat it or what?" Kairi smiled, "Don't use that tone with me,"

XXX

The barn shook as the heavy, rickety door slammed shut. Sora dropped his knife and fork, finished with his nice eggs and porridge immediately headed for the ladder and quickly, but carefully, climbed down. He was excited to see her today, it was nice to have someone to talk to. There was Yuffie, but she was beginning to become more of a sister than ever, ever since Sora had gotten hurt. Sora went around to the side of the shed that was in the opposite direction of the house and waited. Waited, waited, waited. Sora was upset, he was looking forward to seeing her today but perhaps she had things _she _needed to do, he rambled on in his mind about how everything isn't always about him.

It was already dusk and Yuffie had already delivered Sora's dinner for him, and while she was there she became very suspicious of Sora's disappointed mood; anywho, Kairi didn't show. Sora laid back on his cot and starred at the wooden planks that made up the ceiling, thinking of he could possibly do to pass the time,

'_School will be starting next week..'_ He thought, '_I don't think I'll be able to go…'_ Which was another big disappointment for him.

The school, which was located a ways down the road to the city, was always a pleasure to have. No work had to be done during the day, he could say he needed to study at night, and basically all he would have to do was chores in the morning and right before he went to sleep.

Sora rose from his bed and decided to walk outside, maybe look at the stars or something, that's supposed to relieve stress or make you feel peaceful, right? There was still a little light left in the sky though. Pink on pink and yellows, the sky was a blend of warm feathery colors. It was amazing to him, he loved this setting right here, when the colors would blend and rollover each other like so.

"Oh, Sora!" Someone distressed cried. He turned around and was tackled by an unidentified figure, but as soon as he held her in his arms, he realized it was Kairi.

"Sora" She cried, tears running down her face she was in a frenzy, breathing rapidly, he knew that she had to have run over here.

"Kairi?" Sora started and then held her by the shoulders, "What's going on?" He starred into her eyes, the light hit her face up but his was in shadow.

"Oh, god.." Kairi choked on her tears some more, "I hate this," She continued with dramatic gasps and shaky breaths,

"Kai, what happened?" He shook her shoulders, wanting answer right then and there, he wanted to know. What happened, why is she so scarred, so upset, so ecstatic with fear and panic,

"H-h-h-he-tried-to-do-it-again-tried-to-touch" She managed to spill out and then had to take many breaths for lost air. Sora got really afraid for her just then, "Who Kai, who?" He wanted to know right now,

"Him," Her sobs slowed down and she tried to control her breaths,

"Dad."

XXX

Engulfed in anger, Sora grabbed Kairi by the arm and started walking fast down the road. Kairi tried to struggle loose from his grip but he just held it harder,

"What are you doing? W-where are you going?" She demanded and sniffed, "We can't go _there!_ I don't want to! LET GO! SORA—" Sora spun around to her and met her face to face, noses almost touching,

"No," he remarked loud and abrupt, he thought his head was about to explode but then his expression softened, "Kai," He threw his arms around her shoulders, holding her close, almost using her as support.

"Why didn't you say anything…" He barely whispered into her ear, she sniffed and started to whimper,

"Cause I was scarred; Sora, I was so scarred…" She hugged him back. They stood there a couple moments in silence, "This is all my fault," Kairi began, "If I had just—"

"What are you saying," Sora pulled himself away and held her bare shoulders, "None of this is your fault," His face tensed up, "None of it!" He spun around again and began heading down the road,

"Sora, don't!" But Sora had already made up his mind of what he was going to do. This bastard was going to pay.

Chapter Two: Who the Cap Fit… End

XXX

Gasp! Did anyone get the feeling that the story was going to turn out this way? I tried to make it a surprise but I don't know if I did such a good job… Anywho, I also really wanted to continue writing this chapter, make it at least twice as long as this but I get the feeling that a lot of people like short chapters, SO you are just going to have to wait until Chapter three! I guess you know what happens in the next chapter, it's a bit of a giveaway. THAT'S RIGHT! Someone is murdered and Kairi and Sora need to escape Ptolemor, this is the part I have been waiting for… YES! YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE IT! More tragedy and angst awaits…

So please keep reading, cause the story only gets better and better, and thank you to all of those who reviewed… Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Later Days!


	4. Moonage Daydream

Someone said they couldn't understand who was speaking what, and I don't really like to play that he said she said thing, It's not very appealing to me… So just remember that the person that does the action before the dialog is usually the one speaking.

Disclaimer: Sigh… No, I do not own it.

Chapter 3: Moonage Daydream

All too unrealistic, the sun setting; what a beautiful setting. The situation; unrealistic. Such a small peaceful county turned into the last place Kairi wanted to be. Sora on the other hand wanted to take care of business, he was going to trash that guy, no matter what. No matter what, he would avenge Kairi; he didn't think of it that way though, no, no he couldn't think, not right now. So upset, so furious, so disgusted, outraged with red hot anger spilling out from every pore on his body, truly sickened and appalled at what was happening here, under his nose, with him lost in the dark shadows of it all. Not only was he appalled that the father had done such a despicable and vile thing _and to his own daughter for that matter_, no not only that, but he was framed for it all! Although he would come to realize this later, for now he was concerned with Kairi.

He stood a few feet in front of her facing down the path and the sky was changing into darker tones by the second. Her face, lit up by the descending sun, was flushed with damp eyelashes that were the riverheads to the warm streams still running down her face. Her eyes clamped shut, head hung low; she whimpered silently. Sora walked towards her and grabbed her hand,

"C'mon," His front was not in the light flooding from the weak sun, now hiding deeper beyond the horizon. No, he was in shadow, in the dark, then and since this whole thing had begun. Kairi resisted the light tug at first,

"Kai…" She exhaled a shaky breath and surrendered. As they walked down the road, the sun would disappear and Sora's pace would increase. It was silent, all around, like just before a tornado would hit… But neither of them recognized this, they were very much, very much in deep thought. Sora began to think about his condition, he still had his arm wrapped; thankfully it was very thin and he knew that Yuffie was probably just taking extra precaution. He needed to unwrap the bandages but when he tried to send the signal from his brain to do so, his arm would not budge. Kairi fastened her hands tightly around his fingers and resisted the pull. He kept his head turned to the side, locking onto her eyes that cast downwards. But she did not look up; instead she felt him watching her and very slowly released her grasp, letting her arms drop to the side in a weary fashion.

Sora didn't say anything, for nothing could really comfort her now. He rubbed his bandaged arm and was satisfied to feel no or little pain. He continued walking and began to unwrap his arm. After only a few layers the cool air began to tingle the covered area, it felt very nice to be rid of all those bandages. He grabbed Kairi's hand again and continued down the road, remembering that he was aiming for revenge tonight.

XXX

Soon the house was in sight. When Kairi picked her head up to realize this, she stopped and tried to resist moving any further; yet Sora wouldn't let this happen. She had a look of fear in her eyes as she gazed at the house. Her expression looked numb; hiding her emotions. In her mind she had remembered what she had said to Sora that one day at the train station, when she saw her Marisa off,

_'I'm not going to cry anymore.'_ It echoed in the back of her head; '_what a lie.'_

Kairi stopped in front of the house and refused to move any further,

"C'mon," She tried to pull Sora back but instead he focused on the house. He ignored Kairi's comment and with rage in his eyes he silently entered the house.

He kicked the door in and looked around the house, searching for the father…

Kairi stood before the steps and held onto the ramp, afraid of what was going to happen, her eyes widened as she felt like sinking to the ground. She didn't want be here, she just wanted to run off, be somewhere safe and secure, live a healthy life but most of all she didn't want Sora to get hurt again, she couldn't take the same guilt twice.

"You," a low groggy voice said from the hall, he walked in from the doorway towards Sora,

"I told you not to be messing with my daughter," He staggered across the room and Sora with a disgusted look planted across his face, could tell that he had been drinking, some empty liquor bottles spotted out of the corner of his eye verified this. Sora stood in the middle of the room starring him down as he walked unsteadily over to him. He came about to feet close to Sora and spoke,

"It stops here." The father raised an arm wearily and had to pivot to the left to catch his balance, supporting himself on a decorative shelf. When he looked back to see if the boy was there, a fist met his face. It forced him back causing him to lose his balance again and knocking over many items on the dresser, they smashed into the floor; bursting into a million shards. Kairi's father grabbed his face and angrily tried to swing back blindly, but Sora had the upper hand in this fight.

As soon as Kairi had heard the crash she ran up the stairs, hearing many punches and groans, luckily none were recognized as Sora's. She tripped at the top of the stairs,

"Owe," She grabbed her knee, when she fell it had it hit and scrapped on the protruding plank that hung over the side of the top step. She heard muffled punches and small groans, along with another swearing aloud. She picked herself and ran inside, to see Sora sitting atop her father throwing punches upon punches and all landing about the face. Kairi ran over to him and tried to restrain his arms behind him. It wasn't really working,

"Sora, stop! You'll kill him!" Kairi didn't care for her father of course, it was for Sora. He slowly stopped and eased his way off of him. The father laid on the floor, unable to move, starring back into Sora's eyes that were locked onto his own. He breathed deeply in and out, and the ends of his bushy eyebrows cringed downward, casting an evil and angry look upon Sora and Kairi. He managed to say,

"You little slut," He coughed up as he store at Kairi, "Liar—" Kairi shoved a hoof into his side, giving all of her strength. He collapsed back on the floor with a muffled thump. A large gobbet of liquid landed on his face and Kairi leaned over him wiping her mouth with the back of her wrist.

"You took everything," She started and then Sora gained his senses back and laid a hand on her shoulder. She brushed it off and started towards the door, Sora gave one last look at the man sprawled upon the floor and followed. She stood outside the doorway and rested a hand on the pillar that held the roof over the porch. Her gaze reached deep into the night sky,

"What's gonna happen now?" Sora extended a hand of comfort when an unexpected arm reached arm and pulled him back. A lock was formed around his neck, he quickly clamped his hands around the width of the arm and tried to resume breathing, but it was no use. The grip got tighter and tighter, and it was harder to take in more and more air. Kairi spun around started by the sudden grunts,

"Sora!" His head was now forming in a strange arc in relation to his body and he was afraid it would soon become limp. Kairi shuffled among the items that were left unbroken and found an old antic candle snuffer. Sora couldn't take the lack of oxygen and the stress on his neck in this awkward position; he clasped his hands together in front of him and drove his elbow deep into his ribs. A dull crack sound and he immediately drew back and Sora, in return, descended to the floor, clasping his hand s around his neck he struggled for air. Kairi had her hands above her head; ready to strike but before she could do so, the father had regained enough stamina to knock her down. The candle muffler rolled away and Sora, glimpsing it out of the corner of his eye, grabbed it.

"Couldn't keep your mouth shut?" The drunken man blurted, as he grabbed Kairi by the arm, Kairi store back and spit in his face for the second time. Angrily, he mopped his face with his hand and raised I well over his head. Suddenly a loud crash came thundering down and a man was slump on top of Kairi. She scooted herself out from underneath him, Sora ran around and helped her up. They both clutched onto each other and starred at the motionless man sprawled about on the floor. Kairi gripped Sora's shirt,

"Is he knocked out?" Sora nudged the man's shoulder with the edge of his foot, he stayed still. Confirmed that he was now unconscious he knelt down and observed him. Kairi wrapped her hand around his neck and wrist,

"Uh, not breathing…"

The heavy candle muffler rolled across the wooden floor, creating a low rumble in the room filled with silence.

XXX

"What are we going to do now? We just—I just killed a man!" He started to tremble. They stood on the porch him walking in circles, talking in them too,

"He's dead! I mean-- I killed him! Kai! I just killed your father!" With anger he grabbed his wild brown locks and just felt like pulling them out with frustration.

"Calm down!" Kairi shook his shoulders, "We both did this, both equally responsible, understand?" '_Its my turn to be strong…'_ She knew it was her turn now, but she really had no idea how they would get out of this, where they would go, when would someone check up on her father and find his lifeless corpse on the ground of his own home? Nothing like this ever happened in such a small and simple community, not Ptolemor. Neither of them really had any ideas. Suddenly one spoke,

"Well, we have to go." Sora replied ending a long thought.

"Huh?"

"We gotta go, we have to leave Ptolemor."

XXX

Down the road they went, it was a long walk to the town.

"Kairi, we can't get a train, everyone knows us here they will be wondering what's up the second we ask for a ticket."

"Don't you think I know that?" Kairi huffed and puffed, trying to drag her own weight down the road, she carried a small bag on her back. She _had never_ walked all the way into town before, even when going on sheep drives with Sora, they wouldn't ever go for this long..

"Then what are we doing? We don't even have D.L. passports…"

"We need to get rid of our files here."

"Files?"

"Well, you know what I mean. We can't be tracked down after we leave Ptolemor."

"Ah, you mean the police hall, the records." Sora was catching on, and was going to continue until one thought entered his mind, _'I wonder, will I have a record there?' _He didn't know what they did with records of people that were born outside of Ptolemor… There couldn't have been above a handful that would actually leave their district to come _here._ Actually, they didn't even know how they were going toleave Ptolemor; they don't have a District Line Passports.

"That's right," Kairi continued, "As long as they don't have any official records of us in here, authorities can't prove that we are hiding out in another district, let alone existing. So we have to get into the records hall." Ptolemor had such a small population that it was possible to keep all records of every being born here in one building… It was easier, and even though a little disorganized, safer and more convenient for such a small town.

So they continued down the road and saw the town growing closer,

"Here, let me take the bag for a while." Sora offered and held out a hand. Kairi gladly swung it off her back and passed it to Sora.

XXX

"Traverse Town is a pretty quiet place at night, huh?" Kairi gently closed the door behind her, thinking of the two only guards they encountered on their nightshift. Sora walked blindly threw the dark cellar, fumbling for a chain of some sort. Kairi did the same; leaving the keys in the inside lock and patting the neighboring walls for a switch. After bumping into a few objects, and almost falling to his death after tripping over a stack of abandoned papers lying on the ground, the small chain hit Sora in the face and he lightly tugged on it. It triggered a single bulb to dimly light the cellar. The tug caused it to sway back and forth, bouncing the light around the room,

"Yeah, it will take those two cops at least an hour to get to Mrs. Hopkins's house." Lying about an old woman and her heart problems seemed pretty dirty, but it was the only way to get into the file room, er cellar located below the police hall. Sora turned around to face Kairi,

"Excellent acting, by the way… You really looked like you about to faint, but would that be for the old woman's sake or the long walk?" Sora smirked. Kairi started looking around the room, whose walls were coated with columns and columns of filing cabinets. Some even laid in the middle of the floor,

"Oh yeah? Well, nice emphasis on the, '**just p_ass-ing_ by**'" Kairi started to laugh after she mimicked Sora's cracking voice. Sora messaged his throat and playfully glared,

"Okay, okay…" He turned to one of the filing cabinets and opened the second to top drawer, a handful of papers slid out onto the ground and Sora bent over to pick them up. Kairi began looking threw cabinets as well,

"It wouldn't kill them to put letters on these things?" After observing names like Weiwell and Wyent on the folders, she concluded that she was at the end of the alphabet, closed the cabinet drawer and moved down a couple to search through the S's.

Sora picked up all of the papers, "Yeah, I know. It's so unorganized… How are they able to find anything?" He placed the papers back in the cabinet and shut it. When it closed a pink flier stuck out underneath the metal drawer, reading;

"**Twilight Town's Big Raul's; Office Supply Manufacturer Co."**

'_Huh, wonder where that is…'_ As he examined the small sheet a blend of unusual colors caught the corner of his eye. He looked up and lying in the corner shadows of the room was what seemed to be another dull cabinet, but the crooked yellow strip painted down the front made it more special. Sora strolled over to it and began looking in the second to top drawer again. It was half empty, showing that there weren't very many immigrants to Ptolemor. He pulled out some papers and immediately noticed that all of them had big red stamps across the top of each document, stating that it was green, or good. A few had "RED" printed and a large X crossing out all of the papers contents on each page. Sora continued to scramble threw the drawers until he came to R's; the beginning letter of his, well, Ansem's last name.

Finally he came across his file, **_Sora Reiluha_**. He recognized the picture of the seven year old boy, it was him. He wasn't really smiling more giving a scarred and confused look. Sora couldn't remember the details of that day but he would imagine being taken out of that nice priest's home and shoved into the care of a towering-yellow-eyed-crazy-man; yeah, that all could seem kind of scary. Sora snapped back from the past. He placed the papers back in the cabinet and took out the whole folder. He flipped back the rest of the folders, and was about to close the cabinet when an open folder caught his eye. A young girl with fiery red hair held a beaming smile. Amazed, Sora pulled out the file. Like the rest, it had a 'green' stamp, but Sora couldn't trust his own eyes when he read the name:

"Kairi Terrant." He softly spoke to himself. And as if on queue, Kairi announced,

"Hey, I found my File!" She was cross-legged on the ground with the bottom drawer opened in front of her. She waved a manila folder in the air.

"What?" Sora spoke out, really frustrated and confused… Kairi was puzzled by this,

"I said I found my file. Sora?" She got up from the ground and pushed the heavy drawer back in line with the others. As she walked over to Sora he slowly started to turn around with his eyes still locked onto the documents in his hands.

"Oh, found your file?" Kairi said cocking her head to read what he was holding, her happy expression slipped off her face,

"What's that?" Sora looked up to meet her eyes, licked his chapped lips and replied with;

"Your file."

XXX

"So, he's not my father." Kairi hollered through the room, 

"This is great! Fantastic!" Kairi's mood took a 180 into total joy. She jumped up from the ground and spun around,

"Isn't this just, gee I don't know, AWESOME?" Sora chuckled at her sudden burst of optimisticism. She bent down to meet him face to face,

"Let's go, right now. I wanna leave this place and start over," She leaned back resting her hands on her hips, "start over new!" Sora pushed himself off the wall and rose from the ground He shoved the files into the bag. He threw it over his shoulder and looked back to Kairi,

"Alright, let's go." Kairi smiled back at Sora. But before they could even get to the door they heard thuds and bumps coming from the ceiling.. They both looked up and witnessed the plaster ceiling's shakes and wobbles.

"Oh shit!—"

"Quick! Get out over here!" Sora whipped the keys out of the door and started for the one on the other side. He fumbled through the keys, testing every one of them for the back door. Kairi heard the two guard men talking upstairs, '_Doesn't make sense,'_ she thought, _'It's only been a little over an hour; they should have taken twice as long!'_ She started moving over towards Sora, he quickly lifted his head from his work and looked towards Kairi,

"I have it! Hit the lights!" Kairi stopped and turned back to pull the lights, but she tugged a little too hard and the whole chain dropped to the ground. In the darkness;

"Ah, damn!" she dropped the other end of the chain, still in her hand, and moved to the door as quickly and as cautiously as she could. Sora and Kairi raced up the stairs and burst through the second door. From behind the building they ran to the other side of the street and started heading down the road, with the town and their homes behind them.

"We forgot to shut the window.." Kairi reminded Sora,

"Oh well… they'll find out anyways when they see the keys behind the building.." Sora ended his sentence with a brief smile and then tried to come up with a plan to get out of here…

_'What to do…'_

XXX

As the endless walk continued, Sora and Kairi began to grow tired… But they needed to keep going, staying in Ptolemor over night would not be a smart idea… It was also growing chilly, and neither Kairi nor Sora had much on. Kairi, wearing nothing but jeans and a loose fitting white shirt, was beginning to shiver. Sora though, wore cargo shorts, which was even worse and goosebumps started to run up and down his legs. Kairi looked over to Sora and extended a hand,

"I'll carry,"

"No, that's alright.." Sora sighed. Kairi dropped her hand back t o her side,

"Well, do you have any idea where we're going?"

"Uh, I've never been on this side of Ptolemor, So…. No." He placed his hands in his pockets and felt a small object prick his hand. With his fingers, he scanned the cool, smooth metal object and pulled it out of his pockets. It was Kairi's barrette. The once snow-white clip that glowed a heavenly new, was now dirty, scratched and broken. Sora frowned as he analyzed the connection between Kairi's condition and the barrettes—

"Sora, why'd you stop?" their backs were hit with a distant light. Kairi spun around to see a car moving steadily up the hill. Sora pushed her off into one of the small trenches on either side of the road. The car became a truck as it got into better view. Suddenly Sora came up with a brilliant plan,

"Quick, at the top of the hill." Him and Kairi rushed forward and ducked at the edge of the road; their eyes peering down the hill. As the car reached the top it slowed down and Sora quickly pushed Kairi forward.

"Okay, into the back!" Sora whispered as they both managed to jump into the back before it sped down the hill. The driver didn't question the sudden knocks and bangs, thinking it was just the jumping motor. In the back, Sora and Kairi caught their breath and settled down.. Trying not to make noise.

"Late trading for tomatoes, hmm?" On her knees, Kairi spun around to reveal two plump tomatoes, one in each hand. She passed one to Sora and slid the lid back over one of the open crates. They sat against the wall and began to chow down on the strong distinct flavor of red. The moonlight bounced though the edges of the open canopy that hung over the back of the truck. It shined on Sora and Kairi. When they finished everything but the stems they were sick to their stomach and tossed the remains out the back of the truck. It was silent and Kairi and Sora began to shiver again. Kairi brought her knees to her chest and scooted close to Sora,

"It's chilly tonight," Sora could feel the small warmth her body gave off and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Kairi's shoulders went up in defense at the sudden grasp but then began to relax, she was feeling a bit awkward at first. She could feel the security and warmth immediately take place as she leaned on Sora, but this sudden environment made her feel embarrassed and she would keep her head up in an uncomfortable position.

"We better stay warm," Sora replied once he noticed her struggling, "Sorry."

"No, don't be. It's alright." Kairi played with her fingers.

"Oh," Sora removed his arm from around his shoulder and Kairi sat up, laying her legs to the side as he rummaged through his other pocket,

"Here," He pulled out a small chain, and at the end a small yellow sphere twinkled in the moon light,

"Your birthday is in a couple weeks, right?" Kairi looked at the necklace in awe and took it into her hands,

"Oh, Sora," She lifted it up by the chain and let the yellow orb twirl about, "Where did you get such a thing? It's so, so beautiful!"

Sora took it back and tossed it around her neck and fastened it. She turned around with her eyes still locked on the pendent delicately laying on her chest. Sora smiled. She feel back against Sora and his arm returned around her. She fiddled with the bright globe and was beginning to feel a connection to it, thinking how she ever got along without it.

Meanwhile, Sora tried hard to fight off a feeling that bubbled in the bottom of his stomach.

Chapter 3: Moonage Daydream… End

XXX

Super-duper short chapter… I didn't really like it and I think I rushed it just to get it over with for the next one. Nothing really to say other than we will meet a lot of other characters now and plunge into crazy places, get ready!

Thank you to those who have reviewed! I'm very grateful and I'm gonna try to read all of your stories too! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Yuffiegal: what canI say? You were my FIRST REVIEWER EVER! Thank you so much! And you were right, Sora did a number on that guy, hmm?

thesrazrbladekisses: THANK YOU! You are keeping me alive with all of yer energy in your reviews! It really does make me want to write more and more!

Ukalie: Thanks for reviewin'! Um, watch where you're going next time? Heh, just foolin', stick around, will ya?

RuinsofTikal: Gasp! I'm so sorry about your friend.. really, it depresses me so! Thank you very much

heartsoblivion: Sorry about that! I'm trying to make it easier, but thanks for reviewing and keep reading!

Angstgal: Enough angst for you? Muhaha! Just foolin'. Thanks for reviewing!

To all unknowns and anonymous people: THANKS, AND KEEP READING!

Murphy, enough about your butt!

Later Days! And please stay tuned for the next chapter!


	5. I Am the Passenger

Hah.. One Crazy Fox is not done with this story, so… BAM! Another chapter, enjoy. 

**_Disclaimer:_** Final Fantasy? Nope. Kingdom Hearts? Nuh-uh, not mine…

Actually, before we get to that, lemme give you a little insight on what's happening further along the story… so I created this trailer (you ff authors are so creative!)

So, for this trailer use these little hints to help you figure it out… "_Character Speaking" _ And "these are the words that you read off the screen." _This is just describing the picture and such. _

Trailer: Chapter Five and Onward

Pitch black. All you can see is glowing white words being typed across the screen and hear Sora mumbling something in the background.

"This story will continue…" 

As it finishes typing the last period Sora's voice becomes clear but still just as quiet and the camera switches to a scene with him sitting down at a desk. The camera is set outside a window and slowly moves in as he speaks. Papers scattered all over the desk, he holds a single sheet in one hand. A candle burns on the ledge as he recites its contents…

"'_Remember back then, long back _

_Our futures blared so brightly _

_Yet under the great blue sky _

_We were a little afraid'?"_

_It does a closeup of his eyes which are cascaded downward. A deep feminine voice calls out,_

"_Hello?"_

Sora knocks over the chair as he stands up startled and turns around to face an empty open doorway. The candle goes out just as fast and the screen goes black again.

But without the innocence… 

The camera is set high up in a naked tree, only a few red and orange leaves still left. The sky is white and the camera swings down to show a girl sitting below. It switches to a view of her shoes and they squeak in the snow. Then it switches to viewing the whole picture, Kairi sitting on a white rock, in the white snow, with the white sky, the naked frame of the tree sits behind her. She rubs her arms in the cold weather and pulls up her jacket. It then goes to a close up on her face, which looks down. Her head quickly lifts up and jerks to the side at the call of her name. The screen freezes and fades black.

"In a country of lost souls, rebellion comes hard."

A silver haired boy grabs Sora by the shoulder. They stand in the middle of a downtown abandoned basketball court, with wired fence surrounding it. It closes up on their faces, the silver haired boy looks quite enthusiastic with hand gestures and his speech,

"But in a oppressive city like this,"

He leans in and pokes Sora in the chest with a single finger,

"It comes like fire."

Behind a greasy building, the back door bursts open and Sora followed by a blonde haired boy and Kairi run out and jump over the patio's back railing. When Kairi lands she stumbles and lands on her hands, the blonde boy turns back and picks her up by the wrist. Sora bouncing from foot to foot in one place, motions for them to hurry up and then looks up to the security guard who bursts open out of the back door with another man behind him. Sora grabs Kairi by the hand and the blonde boy stops and looks back; the screen catches his face and then dissolves into a twirl of blurs.

**Are they getting further away from the darkness,**

Lost in an alley, Sora pushes Kairi behind him and snaps at her,

"GO! What are you doing! Run!"

He looks forward and faces two dark figures and squints.

**Or closer to it?**

It switches to another scene with Kairi at a store counter, wearing an apron. She neatly folds the cash and closes the register. A few men catch her eye outside, two uniformed men. She turns around wide-eyed and holds her breath as they enter; she clasps her hands together as their friendly chat between them fades with the black.

**They're wanted…**

The silver haired boy rolls his eyes and puts his hands on his hips. Sora sits on the end of the bed with is head in his hands,

"What a drama queen, just ask her!"

**How long until they are found?**

"No, no, no!"

A half naked girl wearing nothing but undergarments stands with Kairi in a bedroom. She is on high red heels, Kairi rolling up the cuffs of her jeans looks up blankly at the brunette girl with bi-colored eyes, she fiddles with her freakishly high-heeled blues.

"You gotta roll your hips."

She glides across the room swaying her hips left to right. She turns her head and flashes a smile,

"Understand?"

A room filled with chaos. Teenagers jumping off the walls; all little punks. Music blaring loud. One gets pushed and Sora punches back, a fight breaks out. Sora is jabbed back in the jaw and he stumbles back, a red stream of blood flows from his lip.

"No matter what,"

Sora and Kairi make a pat, each clasping a single hand, they both smirk.

"We'll go together."

Various little scenes and such that will come up, I just cooked this up real quick to get you P-U-M-P'd, PUMPED, BABY! It's going to get really, really exciting! I mean, well, I'm excited! One thing you can count on is that the story, and it really does, gets better and better after each chapter. Seriously, count on it.

Chapter Four: I Am the Passenger.

(This chapter is dedicated to my father who recently had a heart attack. Everyone, please keep him in your prayers.)

The hard bump made his eyes awaken. He slowly came around and was wondering why he was on his back. First noticing the ceiling of the truck and then the whizzing sounds of the passing winds, the still chilling air, and the early sky, the sun descending into the sky in the distance. The next thing he noticed was the warmth left on his chest, and he glanced down. Her head lay resting ever so delicately, along with a gentle hand clasped against his breast. He slowly sat up and let her slip into his lap then onto his thigh, which was bad. With his arms propping him up behind him, he tried not to disturb her but this bridge of red across his nose -- why it was there he didn't know -- had to be stopped.

"Kai?" He gingerly shook her shoulder. She mumbled soft words and then went back to sleep. Carefully and with the highest caution, he lifted her and placed her on the floor beside him. He sighed and looked outside to see just exactly where they were.

His eyes widened. The hills and great peaks! What a sight! The horizon was as jagged as the twisted curls that lay in Sora's hair. The road also had changed from a dirt trail to jagged gravel and rocks; the driver had slowed down quite a bit from before. Along the edges of the roads there was a lot of vegetation and trees, which is another thing Sora wasn't used to. The wild weeds and limbs interfered with the road and it was obvious no one had cleared this path in a long time. All you could see was the mountains that were set beyond the trees into the distance. Standing at the edge of the truck, lost in total amazement of the mountains that seemed to reach an unattainable height, the truck ran over a rather larger rock and Sora lost his balance. Suddenly his face was facing the ground, and all of his body weight was depending on a couple fingers. Slowly he lifted himself back in the truck, fell backwards and scooted away from the edge. He heard a soft groan, and still scared out of his wits his head whipped around to Kairi, who began to stir awake. She grabbed the side of her head,

"Damn this truck.." She began and then looked towards Sora who looked like he had just seen a ghost and was breathing quite heavily. She questioned,

"What?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing."

"Oh," Kairi rubbed the sleep from her eyes, "Oh!" She said again but with more surprise, she took notice of her new environment and crept to the edge of the truck,

"Uh, be careful—"

"Wow Sora, look at this!"

"Yeah," He crawled to the edge beside her, but not too close to the edge.

"The mountains, they're so.. big!" She couldn't express how the mountains looked. The way they pilled on each other, some narrow and others with a wide base leading to a snow-blanketed top.

"I wonder where we are," She began.

"Or how long we've been traveling."

"There must be two drivers then, since it looks like we haven't stopped. Looks like they wanted to get out of Ptolemor as bad as us."

"Never as bad as us." Sora grinned. Kairi didn't need to look to know that goofy smile was plastered on his face,

"Hmm, we'll be heading into a town soon… Or somewhere for gas…"

"Down there!" There was a clearing in the trees and a valley appeared. But in the center was where Sora's finger pointed to, down to a small little white and gray town. Sora and Kairi looked at each other with wide eyes at their new discovery. The only problem was the town looked as though it was getting smaller and smaller, and the truck was moving up the mountain, departing the valley.

"We gotta go into town, who knows when they'll check the back."

"Who knows if we can survive a night in up in the mountains too…" Kairi's eyes were set upon a great mountain that laid in the distance. It's top covered in white and clouds warped and twisted among it.

It was decided, they would need to travel on foot until they reached the town, smuggling immigrants into another country or district meant jail or whatever they did to kids if they were caught. Kairi packed a few plump tomatoes in her bag and Sora leaned outside the truck looking for a good place to be dropped off. He saw a ditch coming up ahead, another gutter declining from the road. He came back inside the truck and hurried Kairi to the edge, and explained.

"Okay, get ready." She leapt out of the moving truck and seemed to land safely in the shrubbery of the ditch. Sora immediately followed and landed trench going head over heals and running into the cushioning bushes. When he stopped sliding, a sharp pain hit his left arm, he immediately grabbed it but his aggressive clutch just made another ache race through his body. He let out a small grunt and then steadily got up. He walked towards the road and saw the truck kicking up dust as it traveled off into the distance. Now that he could look around he flowed the gravel path that turned at the base of the mountain,

"Oops." He muttered and then inched himself to the other edge of the road. The land on this side of the road ceased only a few yards out from the gravel road and a cliff took its place. As the steep incline slowed down at the bottom you could see it led to the little town below. Now, how were they going to get down there? They would never be able to walk down that thing. His eyes wondered to a path leading from the town, he followed that until it led up to the same road that turned at the base of the mountains. Oh great, it looked like the truck was going to town after all. He then started to walk in the opposite direction in search of Kairi,

"Kairi? Hey, Kai!" She emerged from the trees and vegetation to the side,

"You all right?" Sora asked,

"Owe," Her upper torso seemed to be slowly circling, "My head again," She dizzily said from head-butting with an oak and then peeked out of one eye,

"Your arm!"

"It's fine."

"Agh! No, it's not, it's not fine Sora! You hurt it again!" She inspected it and then put tension in some spots, this reminded Sora of Yuffie.

"Does it hurt here?"

"No," He grimaced.

"Here?" She asked annoyed and raised an eyebrow, the 'I-saw-that' look.

"Eh, NO!" He about shouted and then pulled his arm away. Kairi still had an eyebrow raised but then her face went sour, and then to a frown.

"Why won't you let me help you?"

He didn't answer.

"If you never tell me anything, how am I supposed to help you?"

"What?" He said while still rubbing his arm,

"That's right, you never tell me anything; any problems, what goes on in your family!" Kairi and Sora stood in the middle of an empty road arguing, well Kairi doing most of the arguing and Sora with a confused twisted face,

"Oh, you knew what went on, and you knew I didn't want to talk about it!" He shot back.

"Yes, and that pisses me off!" Kairi folded her arms, "You always hide your emotions, so stop! I don't want to go anywhere with you if we can't help out each other. You make me feel like such a baby! I'm always running to you to complain and to share my stories but you have had nothing in return lately! It really depresses me, you know cause…" She stopped and Sora threw a palm up,

"What? Cause what?" She took a shaky breath and she felt her eyes heating up, but she sucked it up and ran back into the bushes remembering her vow,

"Kai, what?" He said more solemn, beaten more like it. He followed her into the bushes. She spotted the blue sac near the tree, where she had butted heads, and picked it up.

"Kai." She bent down to pick it up and turned around,

"it all got worse after the thing that happened, that happened to me."

She looked to the side avoiding his eyes, mimicking what Sora had always done. She sniffed and took a deep inhale through her nose; no one could really know how she was feeling inside.

"I'm sorry." He said, but she ignored the first apology,

"I just don't want to—"

"Worry me? I worry more when you don't tell me things, Sora!" She got close to his face and demandingly spoke,

"Now, let me be a friend and help you. Deal?"

"Deal." He said defeated but happy.

XXX

As the day progressed, Kairi and Sora walked along the road. The sun had descended past noon and it began to get warmer and warmer, which was a good thing cause it was pretty chilly earlier. They had breakfast and lunch, and had just finished dinner. Both of them were getting sick of tomatoes, since they were from Ptolemor were too rich and it overwhelmed their taste buds. You couldn't eat them alone.

"I don't think I can eat another tomato."

"Yeah, I feel sick…"

They had reached the base of the mountain and were now descending down a gentle slope towards the town. The sun slipped very quickly from the sky and began to touch the peaks of the mountains. They wondered how they would manage through the night.

"We'll freeze. We've moved to far up hill and in these mountains night will be way colder than in Ptolemor."

"We can't reach town by night either…" It's at this time Kairi wanted to smack Sora upside the head for misjudging the road's final destination. But the bouncing yellow orb that hung around her neck always brought a smile and pardon. The road would twist and widen and narrow down, depending on the thickness of the trees. It was a very tiresome and chilly walk, if only they had jackets, or at least pants for Sora's sake.

About a third of a ways down the base of the mountain they spotted smoke, and assumed that there was housing out here. Sora and Kairi picked up their pace once they saw this, hoping they could stop for warm water of coffee, really anything, since they needed to reach town by tonight. When they reached the smoke's origin's they came across a lavish two story Victorian home. It laid in the only clearing in these woods. The house had a few steps that led up to door with a pointed frame. Left to the porch was a two story tower, making the whole home seem like a miniature castle. To the right of the door there was a square first story that protruded out from underneath the second. And above the second story laid one window, the attic window; starring at it long enough made you feel something was going to pop out or shock you.

Kairi and Sora had never seen anything like it before. They looked at it in amazement and astonished at the detail in every nook and cranny the doors and lawn had with it's garden and flower pots; nick-knacks like that. They stood away though, not daring to take a step closer, the house had an eerie effect on them.

They both jerked away at the sound of a vicious bark and looked to the side to see an old vicious hound. They stumbled back and the dog deeply growled.

"Nice doggy," Sora cooed calmly, as a reply the dog viciously snapped back with loud, full barks. His beady black eyes fixed on them, and kept moving forward until all three of them had traveled across the road, Sora and Kairi had their backs against a thick line of trees.

"Who's a nice puppy?" Sora said more nervous, swallowing, Kairi regained her nerve in balance,

"Uh, Sora, I don't think it's going to roll over and let you tickle her." The dog barked again at her remark, and a frothy white line of saliva formed around the rim of her mouth and it's ears pulled back,

"It doesn't have rabies, does it?" Kairi asked and Sora licked his lips looking at her in fear,

"Run!" He darted in one direction but Kairi pulled him back by the tail of his shirt.

"Are you crazy?" A long chain of barks scolded them and then Kairi spoke again, straightening her back,

"Don't show it any fear," Sora looked at her, with his shaking knees and thought to himself, _'Are you insane?'_.

"I'm not afraid of some dumb mutt." The dog snapped back again frustrated, and Kairi shrieked and backed up into a tree. It growled with its lips rolled under, showing off its teeth.

"Lola," An elderly woman called out. Her ears perked up and her expression dropped. She turned around and ran off with her tail wagging. Sora and Kairi's eyes followed it as it ran up to an elderly woman; she patted her head.

Beginning to shrink, this woman started taking on a slight hunch. She was draped in dark warm colors; navy and white dress, black stockings visible at the ankles, her tiny feet her fitted into tiny black shoes, and a black shoulder blanket loosely tied in front. The old woman looked up and squinted at Kairi and Sora. She didn't look very sure though, she had to stop and do this a few times. She stepped foreword and awkwardly kept her hands out for balance,

"Hello there," she called out and began to stagger foreword. Sora and Kairi looked at each other and then back at the woman.

"Uh, hi." Sora raised a hand and smiled, as they approached Sora and Kairi took notice of the old woman's face. It seemed gentle and fair, as though it gave off warmth and a feeling of ease, she smiled and caught her breath as she came to a stop. She had to look up at Sora when she spoke,

"Well, well," She smiled, baring her pearly whites which Sora and Kairi guessed to be fake, and looked back and forth between Kairi and Sora,

"I don't believe I've ever seen you two around." She continued grinning, "New in town?"

"Well ma'am," Kairi spoke and put on a smile, Sora stepped behind her as the dog sat near the old woman,

"We were actually wondering if we could maybe get something to drink or something. See, we are trying to reach town and got lost and we've been walking all day and-"

As the old woman listened she stretched out her neck, like a turtle poking his head out of it's shell, and tried to follow Kairi's story,

"Lost? Well, please, of course! Please, come inside." She turned towards the house and Kairi involuntarily supported an arm,

"Oh! Thank you very much, do you need some help?" The old woman looked up and smiled.

XXX

Sora sat quietly and drank his coffee, the old woman and Kairi sipped on tea and she laid out a spread of goodies to munch on. Sora scanned these with his eyes as the rap of Kairi and the woman sounded in the background. He looked around the kitchen and house, which was as old and just as rickety as the outside, delicate furnishings flourished with little decorations and nick-knacks here and there. It looked like that oldfashioned grandmother's house that you hated visiting because of all the restrictions that would be put on you, saying don't touch that and there's no playing in this room, you know, the one you would be stuck at for two weeks in the summer just to keep her company.

The table was old as well, and was carved out of wood, Sora fumbled with a frilly doily placed under the kettle stand and dish of candy. He tried one of these, but it was old, stale and hard as a rock. The absence of sweet and presence of vinegar filled his mouth and spread up to his nose. He cringed and tried to swallow but it was no use. He had pretended to cough and had spit it up in his hand. Now it laid re-wrapped in purple paper in his hands. Kairi politely giggled with the old woman and thanked her again for the drinks.

"Oh it's no trouble at all, but eh, where did you two say you were from?" Sora and Kairi glanced at each other, and Sora revealed,

"Ptolemor." The old woman lifted her chin in a did a surprisingly long "Ah" and then followed with, "I see."

"Nona?" A younger, more full voice called from the other room. The dog that had been sitting on the floor perked her ears up and wagged her tail as she pranced to the door. Sora heard the crinkling of brown paper and the squeal of the rusty hinges. He turned in his seat to see the front door, which was visible through the open kitchen. A strawberry blonde stumbled through the door with an arm's full of groceries. A cool breeze swept in, she waltzed into the kitchen and with relief laid down the paper bags on the table. She wiped away a wisp of hair from her face and turned around to inspect the children,

"And who might these be?" Sora had to check his jaw to see if it hadn't hit the ground yet. Gawking at her beauty, he thought she was stunning enough to be a model or something along the lines of fashion, though her outfit didn't really scream it. She removed her coat, placing it on the back of a chair, and revealed light faded jeans and a flowery white and blue blouse. Her uniform though simple and very plain, gave a down to earth sense, well that and as a plus hung on a tall and curvy figure.

"Oh Quistis, back already?" The old woman excitedly said looking over a frail shoulder. The womanly figure bursting with youth leaned on the back of her chair and gave her a quiet and gentle smile. Sora peered in closer at her facial features that were just as striking as her figure of course; her light blue eyes were warm on the old woman, her dark blonde eyebrows in a perfect arch and her pale and fair complexion; Sora tried not to squirm in his seat.

"Well these two are Kairi," the old woman spoke with a smile and motioned a hand towards Sora, "and" Sora quite his gawking and turned his attention to the old woman, who seemed to have forgotten his name, "Sora." He filled in the end for her.

"Ah, Sora, that's right," The elder giggled and gently laid a hand on a temple, "This mind isn't what it used to be, you know?" A high-pitched laugh followed and Kairi giggled along with her.

"Oh," The full woman remarked, Sora in the mean time took note of her warm colored pink lips. But when he moved up to her eyes, she had an expression of dissatisfaction. She stood up straight and her long bangs gently flowed in front her, reaching the bottom of her breast, the rest of it pulled up in a hair clip. The blonde gave off a calm aura and her mouth and eyes generated a serious but tranquil expression. Whenever the old woman laid her eyes on her though, her shield melted and she returned a look of comfort… and kindness.

"Oh," she paced to the door recognizing that it was still ajar, "help with the groceries," she beckoned, "c'mon."

Sora rose from his seat and followed her outside to help carry in the groceries. Sora didn't recognize this kind of car from where he was from, it looked a lot more modern; Ptolemor was old and outdated compared to the rest of the world it seemed. Silently, Quistis gathered stray packages that must have fallen out of the bags, and stuffed them in. Sora reached in the back of the car for another round of groceries and glanced towards her. Feeling his eyes on him, she spoke,

"So, who are you, are you related to Nona?" she kept piling in the packages of food and canned goods. Sora blushed and managed to spill,

"Uh, no… We just go lost and--" She picked up to bag and started walking to the house; Sora did the same and followed her from the car.

"Why, d-do you get visitors passing through here often?" He questioned her casualty and walked beside her, but had to look up since she was about a half-a-head taller.

"No," she replied with a look of bothered comfort, "not really." They walked into the kitchen and laid the groceries down, Kairi and the old woman nicknamed 'Nona' were still chatting and giggling like schoolgirls. Quistis glanced at them and then glided out towards the car again, Sora followed. She grabbed the last two bags out of the back and stuffed them into Sora's arms. He silently cringed at the pain that echoed through his elbow.

"Hold these?" More of a command than a question, she slammed the backdoor to the station wagon shut and went back into the house without a second look towards Sora.

XXX

"Well we really need to be going," Kairi said and Sora stood next to her and scooted in his chair, "we need to get into town before it gets dark."

"What are you going to do there?" Her story of them staying with a relative, you know just went out for a hike today and got lost, backfired on her when her mind couldn't come up with a reasonable answer. Now, what was it she said before?

"Gotta get back to our uncle!" Sora filled in again.

"Yeah that's right, before it gets dark!" They both smiled nervously. Quistis ignored the conversation and continued putting away groceries, going to the old legged fridge and opening and closing cabinets. Nona looked disappointed but then a crept up on her wrinkly face,

"Who did you say your uncle was again?" Sora and Kairi glanced at each other. Sora nodded to her and Kairi shook her head, trying to be discreet, looking like she was scratching the back of her neck. Sora turned towards the old woman and stuttered for a moment,

"Uh, uh," his hand clenched on the back of the chair, it gathered moisture even though the house was very cool. He waved a hand,

"Hedberg," He rested the once motioning hand on a hip, "Hedberg, Mitch Hedberg." Kairi slapped a hand to her forehead without realizing it. The old woman's brows furrowed,

"Hmm, I don't believe I know him. And this is such a small little place…" She looked towards Quistis who stood directly across from Sora on the other side of the table. Quistis eyed him weirdly,

"Where are you really from?" With her hands folded casually, Sora and Kairi squirmed,

"We really are from Ptolemor," Kairi stated, looking at the old woman with sympathy, "Sorry to lie to you, but we really just need to check in somewhere to stay tonight. That's why we need to get into town." Quistis and Nona looked at each other. Then after a moment the old woman looked back to them,

"Well there won't be any nice hotels in town, if that's what you mean." She smiled, "You can stay here, if you like." Sora and Kairi, once again, exchanged glances to express opinions and then they both nodded,

"Thank you," Kairi said. But then Quistis interrupted,

"But," She unfolded her arms and set them on her hips, "In return, we could use a little help fixing the house. Would you mind helping if we let you stay here?"

"No problem," Sora agreed, thinking labor here should be way easier then back home. Quistis returned a snug smile.

XXX

Sora knocked on the door,

"Quistis?" A chair squeaked across the floor and the door opened slightly, her head poked out,

"Yes?" Thin framed lasses balanced on the tip of her delicate nose, the first time Sora had seen her with them, she sounded annoyed but was polite at the same time with a weak smile; it faded quickly.

"Oh, well, lunch is ready if you want to join us." Sora took a step back, and Quistis cold expression softened. She thought for a moment and then with gentle eyes and smile,

"Alright, thank you. I'll be down in a minute. Mm hmm?" She thanked Sora and then the door closed. A shiver went up his spine but he shook his head and hopped down the stairs.

When he entered the kitchen Kairi scolded him,

"Can you be any more noisy?" She placed a bowl of boiling hot soup on a frilly placemat, then returned to the stove to serve more,

"Nona took her nap early today, she said she isn't feeling very good."

"Oh, sorry," He took a seat and sat in silence. All that was heard was the stirring and scrapping of the ladle in the pot. That was how it was lately, no talking. Ever since they decided to stay here for a while Kairi and Sora wouldn't really talk. Was mostly Sora who was quiet though, Kairi would try and use her sarcasm to break the ice but Sora would meekly reply back and always seemed to have a cloudy mind. Always in deep thought. He would blank out, hesitate to answer, possibly be thinking of home, Kairi thought. Sometimes she would even feel really guilty, like she had caused all of this. Whenever her eyes began to heat up, when ever her chest tightened and her stomach twisted in a knot she would remind herself that this was best for both of them; squeeze that yellow orb and hold back the tears. She was going to keep her promise this time.

Kairi taped the ladle on the side of the bowl, trying to get the sticky and stringy white cheese to fall in. She finally did so, and quickly placed the last bowl down at the table, almost dropping it. She sucked on a few fingers from the burn and Sora looked up with a spoon in his mouth and held back his laughter, Kairi noticed this and smiled with a giggle,

"Shut up," she giggled, gagged by her fingers.

"What is this anyway?" Sora slurped up a string of cheese that hung from his mouth. Kairi ran the faucet and placed her inside fingers underneath the cool running water,

"Umm," She thought, "I don't know," she placed her wait on one leg and leaned on the counter, wiggling her fingers under the water, "it's some cheesy sweet soup."

"'Lotta cheese," Sora slurped up another spoonful.

"Nona taught me how to make it." She wiped her hands on a dishtowel and sat down at the table and started to dig in.

"What are these?" Sora lifted his spoon to show a soggy brown sponge,

"Oh, croutons," She took a mouthful, "You're supposed to use toast," She wiped away a dribble of soup, "But, we didn't have any bread. Well that, and that toaster thing is broken."

"The what?"

"You know, that rusty silver thing that she puts cut bread in and it cooks it, making it all toasty. Mrs. Jimmes used to have one, Aerith's neighbor, remember?" More silence followed, and Kairi was getting tired of this. She fiddled and made waves in her soup with a spoon. She was thinking of asking him what was wrong but instead remembered the promise that he would tell her when something was up. She trusted him, but then again if she did, why would she keep questioning and thinking about it? Then he spoke,

"When are we going to leave?" Sora asked, he stared down Kairi.

"Leave?" She was caught off-guard with this question and her gloomy expression became one of surprise, so did Sora's.

"Yeah, we aren't staying here,"

"I know, but… why rush?"

"We are only in Laopaes. If we stay here, we are bound to be found soon."

"You think so?" Kairi seriously questioned.

"Hello," Quistis entered the kitchen and noticed an extra bowl and sat beside Sora. Kairi and Sora sat back down in their seats and eyed each other, each giving off an opinion of Quistis's presence; ultimately their conversation ceased.

"Wow," she politely smiled, speaking that soft yet powerful voice, "you made Her famous soup." Kairi smiled from the first complement she had heard from Quistis since they had moved in at the beginning of the week.

"Thanks Kairi, Sora." It sounded weird, her saying their names for the first time, like she was having to sound them out.

"Oh, she made it." Sora said. Quistis ignored this and delicately sipped her soup. She seemed to have a gift of only hearing what she wanted to hear. Sora and Kairi glanced at each other again during the silence. They didn't know much about her, only that was twenty-two and a college student. She spent most of her time locked up in her room studying and only came down for dinner, usually just to take it back up to her room. No wonder the old woman starved for company and a good conversation. She didn't have her glasses on right now and when she felt Kairi and Sora's eyes on her she looked up and dabbed a napkin over her mouth. Her expression was still calm but it seemed to grow more gentle, like the old woman, the more she enjoyed her soup.

"I need to go into town for some errands," Kairi and Sora looked up and Quistis laid her napkin down on the table, "It's going to get very cold in the next couple of weeks, you two should come too and buy some clothes." It was true, Kairi had borrowed some old clothes Nona had kept from a while ago, Sora had barrowed a rag as a t-shirt and alternated every other day, wearing the same shorts.

"That would be great!" Kairi exploded though she had the feeling that Nona had told her to do so, but maybe- maybe not. Quistis rose from her seat to put away the dishes,

"Oh don't worry about those, I'll get them." Kairi stood up and picked up their bowls except for Sora's who had already put his in the sink. Sora noticed Quistis smiling.

XXX

When they reached the small town, Sora felt like home. The citizens seemed very close and everyone knew each other's names. People, mostly old with only a few kids roaming around, would greet each other walking down the streets. The only thing that felt different to Sora and Kairi was all the paved roads and stone buildings, it seemed very strange and kind of compact. It was just a thick forest and then bam! You were in a little stone city. Quistis parked the car on the side along the shops. They chatted a bit in the car but not so much. Quistis had warmed up a little and actually made an effort to start conversation this time around.

She handed Sora a handful of strange bills; he looked up confused,

"Sorry," she shuffled through the notes and picked up a small pink one, "currency in Ptolemor…" Quistis let her mind drift back to her studies, Sora watched as she shuffled through the odd shaped and colorful notes,

"Let's see, this equals a dollar thirty, a little over six instead of five, and this ten equals about fourteen." She shuffled the noted back together and handed them to Sora.

"I wouldn't really worry about being ripped off." She smiled sweetly, and acted apologetic. She didn't bother giving any to Kairi since they were going to be clothes shopping together.

"Remember, back here in two hours." And they set off in different directions.

XXX

They had to stop at a library of some sort. Quistis greeted the librarian with a casual smile and drifted to the back, passing the rows and shelves of books. Here laid a single computer on a desk, Quistis sat down at the desk and pointed to another stray chair Kairi could pull over. As she scooted up she eyed the alien machine,

"I've never seen a public computer before." She confessed, feeling a bit dumb. Quistis smiled again, it was an often thing she did now,

"It won't take long, I just want to see my grades." She began typing and Kairi watched her fingers dance across the keyboard, it only took a couple of minutes on the slow drifting computer until her grades popped up on the screen. She received a ninety-four on a chemical evaluation class and an eighty on a strange statistics one. Kairi was impressed she was taking both of these classes and others at the same time. Quistis seemed satisfied with the ninety-four but loathed the grade for the mathematics class. In her mind she started beating herself for not studying enough, she should've been more prepared.

"What's your major?" Kairi meekly asked. Gripping the sides on her chair as Quistis logged off.

"Well my majors were chemical and civil engineering." She sat up from the desk and scooted in her chair. The computer screen returned to its normal log in state,

"Were?" Kairi asked baffled, she was only twenty-two and she flew through two bachelor's degrees already,

"And now I am getting a master's in environmental chemistry."

"Sounds pretty hard."

"It is," She sighed and then looked back towards Kairi. They seemed to get off at a good start,

"C'mon." She insisted, grabbing her coat, "I've been dying to get a break from school; Nona gave me some money to dress you up." She coolly said, all Kairi could do was admire her and follow.

XXX

They entered a little boutique and Kairi looked at all the new clothing styles. Some she recognized from Ptolemor, since they sometimes imported popular styles, though she couldn't afford them. She tugged on a knee length olive skirt, which was on sale from the summer. Quistis pulled the hanger off the rack and examined it,

"This is cute but," She laid it back down, "It's winter, and at the end of this week it's going to be in the thirties, at the highest." Kairi thought no way at first, it was only in the mid seventies, but she didn't really know how the seasons changed _here. _

"Oh!" Kairi remarked as she remembered something,

"Hmm?"

Kairi snapped her head around towards Quistis, "I just remembered, it's my birthday next week."

"Really?" Quistis put down a pair of dark flares she was looking at,

"Well," She took Kairi by the hand and led her to the front of the store, "We better get out of the sales racks, huh?" She smiled again and so did Kairi.

XXX

She scribbled and scribbled until her arm went out and the door opened, "Quistis?" She walked in with a tray, Quistis turned in her seat.

"It's too late for coffee but I have tea." She smiled as she took a cup from one of her hands. Quistis smiled and sipped,

"Good," she laid down the mug on the desk. She then stuffed some loose papers in a text book and closed it, "I needed a little break," Kairi sat on the bed and sipped on her tea, some peppermint flavor, she didn't know,

"What are you working on?"

"Advanced statistics… You know," She looked down at her cup as she raised it to her mouth, "Normal kids would drink hot chocolate."

"But anyways, did you get anything good for your birthday?" A shiver went up Kairi's spine and Quistis pulled up a blanket around her,

"Yeah, dinner was really good, if I could cook like her…"

"Mm hmm," Quistis nodded her head. Kairi and Quistis talked a lot; mostly Quistis filling her in on what was going on in the world, talking about celebrities and the latest fashion fads that bugged her to crap. The newest being the exposed stomach and Ugg boots people wore in the city,

"It's okay if you're in the mountains like this," she would say, "But really in the summer, in the city? Mini skirts and midriffs and then these Eskimo boots making your feet sweat? I don't understand children these days…" She would ask Kairi what she thought; sitting with a textbook at the kitchen table while Kairi washed dishes and counters. If Sora were near by, he would usually be fixing a cabinet or leg of a ratty old piece of furniture, usually guessing at what he was doing. Kairi wouldn't have an answer, not experiencing those kind of things and Sora in the mean time would try to uncode Quistis's gossip. "Ooga what?" he would say, and Quistis would laugh.

"Kairi," Sora spoke through the open door as he came down the hall, "Are you coming down?"

"In a bit," She called out and then Quistis got up from her seat and closed the door, teasing with a, "Buh-bye,"

"Wait—" The door slammed and the Kairi laughed. He called out from behind the door, "And just what am I supposed to do while you have your girl talk?"

They laughed some more,

"Play with Lola," and then Kairi into hysterical laughter.

In the hallway, Sora was crushed. He sat down on the steps near Lola and nervously extended a hand. She snapped with bark and bite and Sora returned to his position with his head resting in his hands,

"Bitch."

Quistis sat down back in the chair and crossed her legs, she shifted turned towards Kairi,

"What about him?" She sipped on her tea. Kairi hesitated,

"Oh, Sora?"

"Yeah, he must have gotten you something nice." Her eyes half closed, and she leaned on the back of her chair. With an elbow propped up she leaned, worn out. Kairi fumbled through the top of her sweatshirt and pulled out a chain, the yellow sphere shimmered in the room's light. Kairi's eyes set peacefully on it while Quistis's widened,

"Wow," She leaned foreword and reached out towards it, Kairi unfastened it and gave it to her, "it's beautiful." With her fingers she scanned the smooth surface, which was too full of yellow to uncover her reflection,

"Like a pearl," she dangled it n front of her, "When did he get this?" Kairi took it back and refastened it, looking at it some more once it hung around her neck,

"Before we left."

"Left?"

"Why are you staying here?" Kairi quickly dodged, Quistis surprised with the sudden interest turned back to her tea, and sipped,

"That's an out of the blue question." She softly hummed, thinking to herself, "College, mostly."

"Why don't you just move into the city your college is in?" Quistis sipped on her peppermint tea some more,

"It's hard to find a place to stay and a job that pays good money… So I work here and only spend forty minutes on the train three times a week. It's alright, I mean, free meals and I get to take care of Nona with good pay." She laid back, "but that doesn't really matter, I like staying here, it's… peaceful." She set down her cup and smiled.

"How long have you stayed here?" Kairi was now positioned horizontally on the bed, an elbow propping her up.

"About two years, but I've known Nona much longer."

"Do you get a lot of visitors like us?" Quistis didn't know why she was asked this question so many times,

"A few," she hesitated, "I was one." She cupped her mug, which gave off warmth, and her eyes sunk deeper into her past, Kairi could tell. Her voice grew softer in contrast to her determined expression.

"There was one that came though, I cannot forget him…" She drifted off, Kairi ran her finger along the rim of her empty mug.

"Don't get mixed up with things like that, Kairi," she continued, "When you're long gone, remember not to get into trouble like I did. Luckily, my grades were good enough to get into a decent college and from then on I concentrated on my studies," Kairi lifted up her head and saw Quistis looking out the dark window. A shedding tree stood, and the wind rocked it slowly. Kairi sat up and took her mug but Quistis kept talking,

"Everyone has their back up plans; in their minds, they always are always formulating a plan to escape the situation they are in. And I mean everyone."

"I'll let you go back to your studies," Kairi said uncomfortably and began to walk to the door until she stopped her,

"Oh, and to sum up the life lecture, no drugs, no alcohol, and no sex; they will mess you up!" Quistis joked and laughed as an apology for the tense atmosphere. Then, she let her go.

XXX

"Hey." Sora, wrapped up in blankets, said. He sat in front of the fireplace and a shiver went up his spine, he shivered spontaneously,

"Man, it's cold tonight." He blinked. Kairi sat near with a cup of hot chocolate this time and gave one to Sora; he took a sip,

"Something wrong? You look all gloomy,"

"It's nothing." She pulled up a blanket,

"We gotta go."

"Now?"

"Yes, now. We can't stay here any longer, I don't like mooching off of these people." She said frustrated,

"We're working," Sora tried to convince her, well that and himself. After a couple seconds he gave in,

"Okay you're right." He looked over to her. The shadows of the fire danced across her face, her eyes were glazed over and her lips curled in.

"Thinking of home?" She didn't answer. Sora looked over to the flames, colors of orange and yellow. They licked up and ate up all the flowing air. He was on his stomach with his chin on his crossing arms, he looked up to her again,

"You wanna cry?" He asked sympathetically. She looked disgusted by this question,

"What? No," She wiped her eyes and got rid of her gloomy expression,

"Quistis said we can borrow some money and take the train," Sora sat up and listened as her face brightened,

"We're going to go to Almm Eisla."

Chapter Four: I am the Passenger… End

XXX

Blah, blah, blah! More angst and adventure awaits. The next chapter enters Roxas (yes, BHK; his name has been confirmed.) who is an outcast and victim of the society's dysfunctional and insane. The next chapter will be Sora and Kairi actually interacting with a kid their age (DAMN, that will be so much easier, and more interesting too….) And yeah, this chapter was kind of focused on Kairi, but she needed some advice to use her head, cause her redheadedness is going to come in handy… how? I dunno!

Thanks for everyone that is reviewing, I love ya's!


	6. The New Pollution

I thought that the Holidays break would give me time to post the chapter, but it actually did the exact opposite for me, so yeah… I'm sorry.

Disclaimer: Do I really need to bother with this?

Before I start I want to thank RuinsOfTikal, for giving me all this information on KH2 characters when I asked for it, I know this and the chapter is a little late but Thanks so much!

Chapter Five: The New Pollution

His elbow slipped off the armrest. He fell foreword but caught himself before his head hit the chair. The boxcar was unbelievably hot. He took off his grey sweatshirt, just leaving a white undershirt and a pair of brand new jeans. Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he looked over at Kairi who was still in her neat green sweatshirt, dark jeans and sneakers. Both of them had returned some of the clothes for money before they left, though they didn't tell Quistis or Nona about it. Besides, they could only have what they carried on their backs, so three pairs of clothes and some other necessities should just about do it for a while. Sora peered over Kairi's shoulder,

"What's that?" Kairi looked up and then back at the magazine,

"I'm not really sure.." She flipped through the pages, showing off pop pastel colored ads with painted up models and some gossip columns on _'What Was Hot And What Wasn't This New Year'_ and _'How To Win A Guy, Just Using Your Eyes'_.

"I mean, it's a magazine I picked off the cart, but all this junk…" She blinked at some of the pages. Sora leaned back into his seat and took down mental observations of the boxcar. The people had changed, come and gone; they had stopped in a few cities already. Not very many people were on this particular car. A middle-aged man in a pair of nice slacks, dress shoes and chrome vest had disposed of his coat. With his sleeves rolled up, revealing a nice golden Rolex, he propped a pillow on the boxcar's wall and had decided a nap was the best thing to do right now. Another younger man in a black bucket hat was reading a paper, about in his twenties; Sora thought. He rustled with the crisp paper and turned the page, folding it over and over. Then Sora looked out the window to get an idea of where they were. The area was still coated with trees, but they were different. Instead of the messy bushy pines, these trees looked all the same; tinted red and white bark, the limbs started high in the trees, basically they looked perfect. The ground was coated with reds and oranges of leaves. The weirdest thing though was the spacing of the trees, they seemed so perfectly positioned, as if some god had bent down and planted each one with its own space; perfectly spread out. It all had a fairy tail look it, or one of those pictures you would see in a professional photographer's portfolio, or a National Geographic.

Sora sat foreword and brushed his dirty brown bangs back with a hand. Kairi placed her magazine down,

"You okay?" Her voice carried on through his mind,

"I feel kind of sick," he began and sat straight, aligning his back with the seat, "and I don't know why." She smiled, for some strange reason. Maybe he was going to start depending on her a little more from now on. She laid the magazine down in her lap and grabbed a water bottle out of her blue sack,

"Here," she held it out. He took it without hesitation and gulped a great deal down,

"Maybe you should take a nap, you seem a bit flustered."

"It's scorching."

"Well," Kairi lifted the armrest and patted a hand on her opposite shoulder, "I'll wake you up when we get there." He looked at her shoulder and then at her. Then, he folded his arms and his head sunk down the cushion, resting upon her shoulder. His eyes drifted off, and he slowly drifted off into sleep. His head aching, his stomach throbbing, feeling like he was on fire; now that he was resting upon her fragrance, he took in her scent and slept.

Kairi continued to read her magazine and time passed. As it did, Sora's arms dropped into his lap. Kairi looked over to him, still sleeping with that peaceful expression on his face she looked down at his limp hands. One twitched and she smiled, feeling motherly for a moment. The fingers relaxed again, and he re-positioned himself digging his head into her shoulder. His ridiculous hair tickled her neck, but she didn't move.

XXX

"Sora," he came around, "Sora,"

"Hmm?"

"We're coming to our stop, c'mon get up." Sora found himself horizontal along the seats. Kairi stood in the isle, trying to get something from an overhead bin. He sat up and rubbed his eyes,

"Wha? Where are we?" He sat up and then was blasted with a major migraine, he groaned. Kairi sat down next to him and placed the bulky backpack on her lap. Sora still holding his head, looked out the window and was hit with the change of the environment,

"Whoa…!" The modern city was just outside. He placed a hand on the glass and gazed at the tall buildings of brick and hollow steel. The street corner signs, huge billboards, graffiti on the side train walls – it was all amazing to him. The porter walked through the cars asking to see people's tickets, Kairi showed him hers and then went back to bouncing in her seat,

"Aren't you excited?" She said re-energized and fully awake. Sora was starting to get there,

"Oh, man!" He kept his paws on the window, looking back at Kairi,

"This is Almm Eisla! It's insane!" Both he and her oohed and awed looking out the window. Some other passengers didn't know what all the fuss was about and went back to sleep. Kairi shook Sora's shoulder all giddily,

"Hey, we're pulling up to the station! We're almost there!" They sat on the edge of their seats; Kairi all pumped and Sora, well, he still felt like shit but the excitement blocked some of that out. As the train came to a halt they held their breath.

XXX

Neat blue and white tiles, a plastered ceiling and walls; there was a wooden plank boarder that crawled around the perimeter of the room at about your waist. Pictures with black and brown frames and awards from the city hung on all the walls, behind the glass and navy countertops, there were shelves decorated with candy, toys and miscellaneous play things. Small white round tabletops and delicate looking, but plastic, columns of black curvy legs; these with a matching set of chairs sat near the large drawn windows as well as around the whole restaurant.

Their muffled voices, from beyond the glass windows, made him glance towards the door. He scratched his head and returned to his work, praying that they would just pass by. But the bell jingled and the man looked back to the stack of bills and sighed. He rose from his seat and stepped out of his back office into the front of the store. Recognizing that the voices belong to children, he quickened his pace to the counter to where two young teens were conversing back and forth. He was going to get on to yet another group of irresponsible, insensible, school-skipping, tip jar stealing, hooky-playing kids.

"What do you kids want?" He interrupted their talk, something about the warm weather. Startled, Sora answered for both of them,

"Hi, uh… There is a small _apartment_ complex above this shop, and we couldn't find the entrance." Sora pointed to the outside of the shop, where cars and people whizzed by the shopping strip. The man scratched his chin and stood tall with his hands on his hip. The unlit cigarette twirled and bobbled at the end of his mouth; he spoke out of the unoccupied corner,

"Visiting someone?"

"Sort of. Do you own the building," He exhaled, "sir?" Sora placed a hand on his forehead, still getting warmer and inhaled deeply. He looked to the old man who eyed this weirdly, soft and plush looking bags cradled his deep-set eyes. The old man nodded while scratching the fuzz along his chin,

"Yeah, why asking, kid?"

"How much is rent?" The elder leaned back and questioned his curiosity, surely he was not thinking of renting a place of his own,

"I can't take in kids." He simply put, and then turned his back on them to return to his bills. Kairi reached out,

"Wait!" He turned around,

"We'll pay whatever you want, and do any chores or anything! We're desperate!" He crossed his arms over his wife beater and pulled his chin up, as the superior he asked,

"What is it, what kind of trouble are you in?"

"Nothing." Sora stated simply, he shrugged his shoulders and removed the hand that was once planted to his forehead. They didn't speak and the landlord was beginning to grow old of this and other things,

"Two misfit teens just can't rent a dorm ro—I mean, move into an apartment complex." Though, who would've called it a complex, it was small, run down and wasn't in the best shape from the looks of the outside. The old man had just fixed himself on the store; which radiated new compared to the rest of the building.

"Please—"

"What do you take me for, kid? Do I look like a compassionate man?"

"Well how about this?" Sora slid a piece of white cardboard on the table, bold capital letters spelled out, 'HELP WANTED' and in smaller letters—like someone else had wrote it—it said, '_we're desperate!'_. With his hand still splattered upon it, Sora looked up at the man through his sandy bangs,

"We'll work whatever hours you want for free; we don't care. Anything, just as long as we get a place to stay." The old man scratched his nose and looked at the children back and forth. The thing was, he was indeed desperate as well, and the only kids that would come for the job were these petite little girls, wearing barley anything – which was not part of his dress code – maybe a midriff if there was a draft, with pierced noses and colored streaks in their hair. They were usually dumb too, drop outs of one of the areas high school, maybe mother kicked them out. Either that or it was slackers, slackers that would come in an hour after their shift begins, then spend the whole time counting change wrong and flirting with the opposite sex while the pizza's were set aflame in the oven and the soda ran well over the rim of the glass and the hand holding it. He considered this, and this only, because they seemed distant to those kind of folks, like they weren't from here. They looked determined but they were too young, maybe one more shot though? If only he had pursued a different lie of work, instead of being, Owner of the Local Pizza Parlor…

"What experience do you have?" He asked, defeated,

"Uh, none really." Kairi looked to Sora who shook his head as well. When an eyebrow rose above a deep eye, she quickly thought of something new,

"We used to help out at the nursery home. He can do labor and I can clean, that shows responsibility, right?" Quistis talked about Nona going to a home with Kairi before. And it wasn't a total lie, the work shouldn't be _too _hard from what they were used to. She looked with pleading eyes and Sora, hidden under his messy locks, took a serious expression. The man thought.

"A quick interview," he motioned to the back office. Sora grinned and Kairi let out a chuckle of relief.

XXX

Sora threw a bag of trash into the dumpster. Still feeling overheated, he sat down for a moment and tried to enjoy a passing by breeze. Going through basic training for a pizza parlor seemed a bit ridiculous to both Kairi and Sora, but they would do anything that they had to do.

"Got a light?" A familiar deep voice.

"No," Sora knew who it was and didn't bother to lift his eyes, feeling to bad to mess with crazy co-workers. He sat down holding his head, and the other walked across the empty back to the side of the street. Looking in both ways she spun around and walked back to Sora. She sat a few feet away with an unlit cigarette resting between her lips. Dressed in a black jacket, tight white pants, and always wearing sunglasses that covered half of her face, she brushed a wisp of her glowing silver hair. She sat leaning on her elbows which were propped up on a higher step behind her, she removed the unlit cigarette, and crossed her ankles.

"What are you doing here?" Fujin asked patient at first,

"What?" Sora looked over his shoulder,

"Why are you standing out back, shouldn't you be working?" She managed to ask relaxed.

"Why?" Sora asked as politely as he could and exposed a palm to emphasis.

"Hey," She demanded with a tone, "You got no business to be talking to me like that." She leaned on her knees, Sora could see a bit of white bandage behind the left lens of her glasses. He let his arms dropped, confused,

"Talking, like what?"

"Right there, with that tone." She snapped.

"What?" his shoulders rolled forward and he turned out his hands, "What are you talking about?" He continued, sincerely confused.

"Alright, that's it! If I hear you speak like that to me again, I'm going to beat your ass." Sora shifted back,

"But, I was just sitting here.. And ya-you come out on your shift and ask me why I'm not working—"

"You little prick," Fujin stood over him, towering him. He was still on the ground and he raised his hands up in defense and scooted back,

"W-wait… I'm confused," He still looked at her through the dark glasses, but just a little more scared. This chick was scary and she was half a decade older than him, what was he supposed to do? Beat up a girl? Why would he want to do that on the second day of the job? He still didn't know. She picked him up by the collar of his shirt, having some difficulty with those toothpicks that were called arms. He raised his eyebrows,

"I-I don't know what's going on!" She let go and he stood there, she started to cry and hold herself,

"Why so cold!" She chocked through her hands, she then sat down on the steps and cried some more, Sora looked around hoping to find some clue of what was going on, and then looked back at Fujin, about to say something but then stepped back towards the kitchen door. He looked around once more and then turned to open the door. When he was about to shut it, he heard her call out,

"Roximas, my baby!" He spun around to the door and peeked through. The silver haired witch was at the edge of the lot throwing her arms around a younger boy, he didn't return any affection. They spoke for a few moments, it looked as though Fujin had calmed down quite a bit, was that all an act? She handed him a few paper bags, he peeked inside, waved and left. As she started walking back, Sora rushed into the front of the store where he caught Kairi off guard,

"Hi." He simply said and then turned to the other boxes of supplies that still lay unopened behind the counter.

XXX

The other employees quit; once they found out of the new recruits they said this wasn't for them, wasn't their style and took off. So, as she closed the cash register and was just about to open the shop back up, she wondered how long their stay here was going to be, and where they – her and Sora – were aiming for or what they were aiming for. This thought was interrupted though, as a figure emerged out of the corner of the shoppe window. It was a kid, but it wasn't even twelve o' clock yet, so it was long before school would be let out. Hanging his head, the boy walked drearily past the entrance and then paused. He hesitated and looked back at the door. Kairi's head rose from her palm, intrigued, and she watched him walk back towards the door. The bells on the door sang as he poked his head through and started to enter,

"Hey,"

"Ah, wait!" Kairi held up a hand over the counter and scooted to the end of the counter,

"You're all wet!" The boy was half in the store and looked kind of confused as the redhead jogged into the kitchen. A drop of liquid dropped from his hair and another dripped off the end of his nose, he scanned the store. She came out with two dishtowels and the boy let himself in, staying close to the door.

"Here." She said, handing him one. He took it and first dried his head. Kairi stepped back and her nose scrunched up,

"Ugh," she covered her mouth and nose, "is that you?" The boy removed the towel from his head and took the other,

"Like roses. Pardon," His tone was annoyed and all though it sounded calm, it held no patience, "Where's Fujin?"

"Huh? Fujin?" The boy removed his towel from his head. Kairi stepped back. His hair was blonde, messy and sticky in some kind of goop, with a yellow tan and a boyish figure. A drenched and stained white baseball tee with black short sleeves and faded jeans dressed him. But what caught Kairi's attention was his eyes; just like Sora's…

"Oh, Fujin… No, I'm sorry she just quit the other day."

"Huh."

"But she should be back later on to get her last paycheck." Kairi tried to help, the boy looked very disappointed, but soon he shrugged it off.

"Hmm," he fumbled with the towel in his hands and attempted to fold it up. He had black and white cloth bands on his fingers and a checkered wristband; they too were also drenched and the white was stained a yellowish-lime. He hesitated as he handed the towels back to Kairi, not knowing if it was rude or not, but then again he didn't seem like he was the kind who cared. She took them with a distasteful look. He spoke motioning to the stools lined up against the counter,

"Do you mind if I, uh,"

"Go ahead." He took his seat and she dumped the towels into the kitchen trash, making a note to take them straight to the dumpster later. Kairi could hear him from the front of the store,

"You know the old girl that worked here used give me free sodas," She came in,

"I'm sure." she caught him sniffing himself and grimacing, the violent aroma made Kairi cringe as well. The boy tapped the countertop and looked around the room until his eyes fell on Kairi, hers were locked on him,

"Hmm?" He asked, curling in his lips and raising his eyebrows.

"What's on you?" Kairi waltzed over to the cash register and, keeping her distance, laid a hand down on the countertop.

"Fish guts." He replied still tapping on the counter, nodding his head, like she was supposed to know that. His superior and annoyed nature thus far bothered Kairi, but she was known for her overbearing sarcasm too,

"Ah, I thought it was a new colon." She added with a snooty tone that matched his, though he didn't notice and looked towards the door pointing a thumb,

"Are you gonna clean that up or what?" Kairi shocked by this remark discretely became furious. Pulling out a can from below the counter, she smirked, shook and sprayed him with air freshener. When he turned back around to se what was the mist she made sure to get a good coat over his hair and face. He broke out into a chain of coughs, Kairi slammed the can back down on the counter. She gave him a few seconds and then,

"It still smells," she said lifting her nose in the air, "I think the stench is emanating from your attitude." She laid an elbow on the counter and when he stopped coughing and his eyes stopped tearing, they met,

"You saw that I was new here and tried to push me over," She frowned, "Well, that's not going to work." The boy's expression softened for a moment, and then cringed so he had to wipe his stinging eyes. Kairi turned around and was thinking about getting Mr. Highwind to kick him out, but not on her first actual day of working; that wouldn't look to good would it? When she started to stomp off to the end of the counter he coughed and added,

"Hey, I didn't know you were new." Kairi looked back with a tired face, "I mean, I knew you were new here but not like _here_." He put out a palm for emphasis and then wiped an eye. He talked slow, but seemed to place only half a heart in his words. Going further, "You're not from Almm Eisla, are you?" She didn't know how he could tell or why she was going to answer his question,

"No, I'm not."

"Don't seemed so bummed," pause, "it's a blessing." He stood up, the stool legs squeaking as they ran across the floor, "Though I am still curious," he picked up the spray can and fumbled it between his hands, with his eyes still on Kairi, "Why anyone would come here." He said this friendlier, upbeat, and gently put the can down, his eyes casted downwards upon it. The contrast of his golden skin to his dark and wet lashes enhanced his boyish appearance. He looked up, Kairi still stood furious,

"I'm Roxas," Kairi looked at him weirdly and there was silence,

"You could tell me your name… or just stand there, cause that's cool too." Roxas sat back down and Kairi strutted over,

"Kairi," He said, not her. Then she glanced down to her forgotten nametag,

"Now I really feel like an idiot." Roxas stated for the both of them, then smiled. For some reason Kairi felt guilty now.

XXX

Sora stared at the unfamiliar ceiling in the apartment. His mind attracting old memories, mostly good. The good ones about his sisters and the others, about Ansem. He felt overheated, feeling the warmth of his own body and then with the blankets on top of that; he was sweating bullets. There was a reason few checked into this compact, three story apartment; the buildings, he was told, used to be dorms, and the downstairs a little thrift and coffee shop. Only a couple of the dorms had been combined on a floor to make an actual apartment for rent. All had been taken, so Kairi and Sora took a dorm each, which was good. Sora did have a fever, taking the first couple of days off was no biggie to Mr. Highwind, he said, "You'll make it up for me, I'll make sure, kid." And then did that thing where he wiped the side of his nose with a thumb, like a boxer inside the ropes. So laying in his bed, bursting with heat, he stared at the ceiling. "You got to sweat it out," she said, "that's how you get rid of a fever real quick." Sora was fed up though, and threw off his covers. Going into the small bathroom, he filled up a glass of gross lukewarm water and drank. "It must all the environment changes," that would be Kairi talking, "You're body isn't used to it."

He threw on some jeans, closed the door, locking it, and traveled down the long hallway that bisected the third floor – the top floor. Sora learned a new entrance of the apartments, though exiting it would take you to the other side of the block, so you would half to walk between buildings to get to the shop's entrance.

"And then with dry ice, it'll go crazy! Fucking genius, right?"

"Are you sure that's going to work?" Kairi said focused, arms leaning on the counter, a warm dirty white apron tied loosely around her back.

"Are you sure that's pizza?" Roxas leaned back from his heated explanation and scooted the crust-leftover-plate towards Kairi. She raised an eyebrow for a moment and then brushed it off,

"Okay, okay… "She began to untie her apron and while swinging it over her head she said,

"Why do you wanna cook up so much trouble?" folding it over her arm she combed a wisp of hair behind her ear. Roxas picked up his wallet on the counter and saluted. He exited the shop, always in a better mood than when he came in. A few moments later, Sora opened the shop, Kairi spun around surprised. She laid the apron down and came around the counter.

"Hey, feeling better?" She said tilting her head to meet his sleepy eyes. He scratched them and then his scalp, lifting his head and looking around the shop he said,

"Kind of."

"Oh, that kid was just here." She said placing her hands on her hips, her fiery hair fell forward, "It always seems that you just miss him."

"Who? Oh, that kid you pepper sprayed?" He scratched the back of his head some more and walked over to the counter, examining the contents up on the shelves and picking up some items sitting on the counter.

"It was Lysol," She said innocently and followed, she grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around, "Turn around for a sec'," His head twisted around and there was her face, inches away from his. She starred intently into his eyes; he could only stare back with a questionable look. Her face was unmistakably close to his. As she took a step closer, he took one back. His arm bumped into the counter, and he gulped,

"Kai," He asked, "What are you doing?" She lifted her hands and grabbed his face. A thumb and pointer under and over each eye she stretched them wide open,

"Lemme just see something." She pulled back, still starring intently, and blinked, "Huh,"

"What?" He relaxed, confused.

"I don't know," She walked to the mop leaning against the wall and started towards the kitchen, "You gotta see this kid, I swear you guys are twins." She waltzed into the kitchen while he brushed off a forthcoming and nasty tasting thought.

XXX

"Yo-" He stopped at the door with a hand up. He walked in, Sora starred back at the young blonde. The cowlicks in his hair made it look like a fohawk but there was no gel, or hard cased hair. He was wearing a grey jacket, red shirt, faded jeans. Sora in a white shirt and those cargo shorts, recognized him as the boy with the silver haired woman. He continued with the broom,

"We're going to be closing soon." He said with his head still down, the blonde kid put his weight on the foot furthest back and looked out the window. It was pretty late in the day, and the sun had already gone down, it was a navy black that settled behind the buildings and other scenery. He turned back around and stood there with a serious expression, his first one. Sora could feel the tension and stopped sweeping, slowly his head rose and their eyes locked. In quiet and clandestinely disbelief they store into each other's eyes, studying their faces, had they met before? With this familiar feeling hanging around them, they guessed and passed through memories and faces from their past. Where was it from, what could it be? BUT, it was _their own_.

After hearing the bell, Kairi paraded into the front of the small shoppe. She walked in on them just watching each other; it was all very strange and awkward. She chocked on the silence though and couldn't take it anymore,

"Hey Roxas!" The spell collapsed,

"Hey Kairi," He walked over to her and sat at the counter, blanked out about what just happened.

"Oh, this is Sora by the way. I've known him since – a really long time.."

"How's it going?" Roxas looked over his shoulder, still perched on his stool. Sora kind of stood dumbfounded and then walked towards the wall where he propped up the broom. Kairi ran into the back for something and Sora passed by behind the counter, and Roxas had thought of a witty comment for his silence, but held it back. Hypocrites suck.

As he passed behind the counter once again, they both looked up, instantly, their eyes locked, instantly, and they watched. It was an eerie feeling, looking back into a mirror planted across someone's face, but they held their ground and watched, for something. Both boys with china blue orbs, both reflecting in the other set of eyes, though they were the same, their eyelids in the same place, the color the same, size; it had a different past behind them, or watched in front of them more so. Sora's had seen the same plain fields everyday, when Roxas' had been to new worlds, very different. Their eyelids, Sora's heavy from anxiety, labor, work. Roxas' was unknown for the time being…

"Even though I said I wasn't going to do it," Kairi dropped a round pizza on the table, "This one is on the house."

"Awesome!" Roxas got up from his stool and stole across the room towards the delectable and rich aroma's origins. The pizza was still steaming as he sat down and licked his lips while Kairi drove the cutter across the center of the cheesy treat. Sora watched from behind the counter as Roxas and Kairi enjoyed some slices, in the end he only had one. And he had cut it himself.

XXX

"Hey there," he said, tired, late and with a weak smile.

"How you doin'?" Kairi spun around. As Roxas pulled all the way into the door, she gasped,

"Oh my goodness, your arm!" She repeated. He walked over to the counter and sat down. She asked what happened, and he smiled. Just shaking his head he brushed it off,

"Oh you know," And ended it there,

"People get excited in sports, you know, it isn't a matter of life or death…" he hesitated as he store into space, "No, it's, uh, more important than that…" He couldn't help but smile off. Kairi started to laugh and gave him a little push in the shoulder. He rested his cast onto the counter, and talked about other things though, meanwhile Kairi took a cup to the machine and got them both a soda. She listened to a couple things, him reviewing his 'master plan' to ruin the – until he mentioned tomorrow,

"Ooo, tomorrow is my day off, and I have to do a couple things."

"Like?"

"Sleep in and be lazy."

"Those are errands that have to be done." He said nodding his head. Kairi chuckled,

"You're probably more on top of that than me—"

"But of course." He insisted as he rose from the counter, making his point.

XXX

"What can I buy with sixty cents?" A dirty and lanky child stood on the tips of his toes peering over the counter. His eyes mirrored the toys and goodies on the shelves that covered the back wall. Sora looked up, tired, and pointed to a couple,

"Any one of those," The boy moved his eyes away from them and pointed,

"Can I by that?" Sora turned his head to look, and then back at the boy,

"No, you don't have enough."

The boy rubbed his chin. Both elbows on the table, one of them rolled into a sweaty fist with a couple of coins. He pointed to another object,

"What about that one?" Sora looked up again and back,

"Nope." He said. When the child asked again, Sora didn't bother to look back. Instead he folded his arms and leaned foreword on the counter, oh, and began to grow impatient.

"How about that?"

"Not with sixty cents."

"Well how much does that one cost?"

"More than sixty cents."

"Okay, how much is that blue one?"

"More than you can afford."

"Can I get that one?"

"Is it one of the ones I picked out?"

"No."

"Then no."

The boy rubbed his chin again, scanning what he thought were options and then looked back to Sora,

"So, which ones could I buy again?" Sora sighed and began to point them out,

"That one, that one, that one…." And so on. The boy thought for a moment after Sora finished,

"So," he began and tilted his head again, like a new idea passed his mind, "I can't have that one then?" Sora looked back and then to the boy, astonished,

"No, no-no you can't. Ya just can't."

After the boy made his purchase a few minutes passed and then the bells ran again and Roxas entered with a basketball under his unbroken arm. As he saw Sora at the counter he remembered what Kairi had said the day before. He took a step towards the door but then looked back at Sora, and changed his mind. He waltzed up to the counter and laid the basketball down,

"You wanna shoot some hoops?" he said a little shyly, resting his chin on the orange ball. Sora looked around,

"I gotta work." He had played something like basketball before it wasn't basketball but it was pretty close; but the ball was much smaller than that – and it didn't bounce. Roxas curled his lips in and nodded his head, being understanding,

"Okay." He left the ball on the table and jogged to the door. When it started to roll of the table Sora caught it, and fumbled it between each hand. Roxas flipped a sign on the door, letting the outside know it was 'closed' and turned back to Sora,

"Problem solved." Sora looked suspicious for a second.

"You're on break." Sora looked at the ball and then at Roxas.

XXX

From the pizza parlor they went quite a ways down one street and then another and a quick turn onto this one, and so on. They had finally reached a single vacant basketball court, with tall chain-linked fences surrounding it. Roxas and Sora saw that one hoop was missing it's net so they decided to go to the other end. Before starting, Roxas sat on a bench shaking his arm with the cast, Sora looked over confused. Roxas noticed this,

"You do it for good luck," He rolled his eyes, "It's itchy." He continued to wiggle it, "Drives me insane." Sora nodded and dribbled the ball a couple times, getting used to the feel of the bounce. He caught it on a last bounce and held it in each hand,

"Have you ever played basketball before?" Roxas asked genuinely, for once. Sora bounced the ball once,

"Not really." Roxas wiped a brow, and held out his hands,

"Man, where did you and Kairi come from? Okay, alright, pass it here." It bounced once before reaching him. Roxas fumbled it between his hands and kicked some extra gravel to the side. He began to dribble with his left arm, his uninjured arm,

"You always want to dribble." He then began doing it with two hands, "Doesn't matter how you do it," he began pounding the ball down harder, and even threw it behind his back and between his legs. Sora watched intently. Roxas looked up, and pointed to the hoop with his casted arm,

"To score points you shoot it through the hoop," Sora leaned back,

"Okay, I know the rest." He wiped his nose and got down in a ready position.

"Alright, then let's go." Roxas flashed a smile and began the game. At first, he began to dribble in one place, staring down Sora. With a quick dart to the right he ran around and managed a lay-up.

_He laughed with his friend on the bench, waving his arms – one in a cast still – he was quite happy at the moment. Some water bottles lay next to him. His friend, a little on the chubby side, slapped his knee and returned with another comment that made them both break into chuckles. Someone called his name though and he looked up and exited the gym. Roxas sat there with his elbows resting on his knees. Leaning foreword, he watched the game with half-interest. Some boys ran by, all of them were wearing gym clothes, as well as Roxas, and were in the middle of a scrimmage. Roxas' attention switched from the game to his arm; he starred intently at his hand._

The ball smacked the backboard and rickashayed off the rim through the net. Roxas walked back to the half court line, feeling confident and switched from offensive to defensive. Sora, started dribbling and began to move until a quick hand swept the ball from underneath him and Roxas took it back and ran up to do another lay-up. It went through and he walked back again, now more than confident, but not yet cocky. He checked the ball with Sora, Sora now having his heart set on just making one basket began bouncing from one foot to another. Then something stuck his mind, and he stood up,

"What'd you do to your arm?" He kept dribbling but Roxas stood up,

"Kids."

_"Pacumb! Get in there!" A man's voice roared across the gym. Roxas looked up confused. He raised his casted arm and pointed with the other hand,_

_"What about this coach?"_

_"Put it behind you're back, you'll be fine." Roxas had little faith in his words, but stood up and started to walk to the opposite side of the court. Along the way another, taller boy, rammed shoulders with him,_

_"You're dead, Pacumb; the traitor." He glared and Roxas continued his way across the court. The coach blew his whistle as everyone got to ran to their places,_

_"Alright, let's see some effort in this go!"_

"What?" Roxas turned around just as the ball fell from the hoop, it bounced once and kept that momentum up until it ran into the fence. Sora was wiping his mouth on the collar of his shirt, which started to get a bit damp, and walked cockily over to the orange-peeling ball,

"Day dreaming?" He asked quietly but smiling, Roxas shocked at first, began to smirk,

"Keep smiling, it makes people wonder what your up to." Sora passed the ball back to Roxas and rested his hands on his knees. He nodded.

_Once the whistle was blown, the kids began to play, passing back and forth. Roxas waited on the other side where the action was, in his position as post and got ready as the players traveled down the court towards them. He spoke to the other boy at post,_

_"Hey Murph', you ready?"_

_"You better have this, Pacumb." Roxas looked up at the other post, 'on his team'. Annoyed by this comment he shook it off; now another mutual friend has been turned against him,_

_"Hey, just don't punk out like you did on Tuesday's delivery." He smirked still staring down the court. The other boy stepped towards him,_

_"Quite talking that shit here—"_

Roxas landed on his toes from a shot. It was all net, both him and Sora rested on their knees, breathing a little heavier. Playing for a while now.

_"What the fuck, are you one of Ollie's cronies now?" Roxas met him in the eyes. Heated in the conversation, they didn't notice the players running down the court had arrived. Roxas turned and got ready. Someone shot, and he got the rebound. Then another pushed him to the side and he landed on an elbow with his right casted arm up in the air. He grimaced as a boy kneeled over him,_

_"You better watch out for the next one, Pacumb."_

"'Should've kicked him in the nuts!" He said as he landed from a lay-up, Sora turned around confused. Roxas stood silent for a while, just the sound of their heavy breaths. They decided to sit on the bench for a while. Sora sits with his hands on his knees, moisture forming on his forehead and upper lip, he inhales deeply through his nose. Roxas rests his elbows on the back of the bench. Letting his head hang back, he starts to recall the basketball situation that happened earlier that day. A tingling sensation went through his arm and he wiggled it relentlessly and even got as frustrated as tapping the cast. Sora saw his annoyance and began to smile, trying not to show; but Roxas noticed anyway.

"Hey, if you have ever worn a cast, you would know how frustrating it is." He said knowingly. Sora kept smiling,

"I know, this arm." He held it up. Roxas looked at it and sat back against the back of the bench again,

"Really. How did you break it?" Sora store off and hesitated to answer.

"Hey, it can't be as embarrassing as my story." Sora looked up, he wasn't embarrassed of what happened to him, but this statement struck Sora's interest. Suddenly, Roxas was opening up, and he didn't know why. Sora got the feeling he didn't have very many friends.

"Like what?" Sora asked, Roxas leaned into the conversation, hesitant like Sora to answer,

"Well," He began, "You know why that Fujin girl stopped working, right?" Sora shook his head,

"She's a nasty pusher. Actually, you'll learn that most of the hustlers out here are girls. It's kind of strange." He noticed he was getting off topic, and backtracked to his story,

"Anyways, I'm… uh… one of her delivery boys – nicer way to put it – and all I do is transport to the houses she tells me to go to." Sora listened intently,

"So, one of her regulars supposedly called up and asked to meet in a different location, since their parents had been getting suspicious. So bottom line is, dark alley; some stupid kids from school; and it just went wrong." He wondered off, and began to laugh to himself,

"That was supposed to be my last delivery too, what a memory." Silence for a while and then he looked to Sora, who was quiet and probably didn't get the whole story. Sora defensively asked,

"So your into that," He looked up through his messy and damp bangs, Roxas peered underneath his; maybe being truthful wouldn't win a friend after all,

"I guess so," He said a little hostile. The tension rose.

"Does she know?" Kairi he meant,

"No, I don't want her to either. That's why I got out, for good this time." He leaned back again, and Sora relaxed a little more, feeling a bit guilty for judging him, and now knowing he could trust him. Roxas asked,

"Alright, so fess up! What'd you do? Rob a liquor store or something?" Sora smiled at the thought,

"No, no" he giggled and then his smile faded, "Not anything like that."

"Well, c'mon!" Roxas begged. Sora hesitated, and store off,

"Kai's dad," He was going to go on but Roxas was too excited,

"What? You got in a fight with her dad?" He sat up, with much interested.

"Is that why you're on the lam? Aw, what a great story; two—"

"Hey, who told you we were on the lam?" Roxas settled down and innocently pleaded,

"Uh, no one. I just guessed—" Roxas relaxed, and they didn't say anything for a while.

"So you and Fujin, are like…?"

"What? No way. I mean, she gets what she wants, she did get what she wanted, but I never saw her like that. I never really saw her as anything, just a dumb crack addict." The sun began to go down, and the streetlights would soon flicker on, but until then, they talked. Sora fumbled the basketball between his hands as Roxas continued to talk on and on; he was quiet and just listened,

"...and my mother, she never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." Sora quietly smiled at all of his sarcasm and cracks, although his story was kind of sad. His father worked in the military and was moved from post to post across countries. Every semester, Roxas would start at a new school, usually with no luck at getting friends. He never got into anything serious, but this city was – and this is what he said – by far the worst he had ever gotten into trouble. His mother was portrayed as a real snob, with her nose to high in the air to know what was happening on earth, and his father was never home because of work. He said it was too ironic, that the family would move so they wouldn't break up, but there wasn't a family, they never saw each other; there was no quality time, no family time or anything. And really, everyone liked it that way.

"What about yours?" He stood up and began to stretch his arms over his head, ready to go for another round of basketball before they headed home.

"Well…--" Sora started,

"Shit!" Roxas said relaxed enough, though. A group of boys were seen coming around a corner down the street.

"Oh, Fuck. What are they doing here?" Sora turned around to face them, there were so many,

"Why do they hate you so much? What'd you do to them?" This, like a lot of things, didn't offend Roxas,

"I used to be part of another pushers 'posse'," He motioned the quotations with his fingers, "Whatever the fuck that means. Anyways, I sort of left them to help Fujin out, cause, I owed her for something else… It was like I committed some big betrayal, just cause I'm delivering crack for another _big boss_. She's making more money at nineteen than the other guy is at thirty." Roxas kept his eye over Sora's shoulder and as they got closer he motioned to the exit at the other end of the court,

"We better go…" He took the basketball from Sora and started walking towards the gate. Sora looked back,

"C'mon," Roxas commanded smoothly, Sora followed. After they exited the courts, they quickened their pace. After a couple of tense minutes, Roxas began leading Sora down different alleys and streets than before. Roxas being all shook up by this situation was starting to get to Sora.

They turned a corner, and faced two of the kids from the gang,

"Hey. Pacumb the traitor," They said slyly like a what-do-you-know it's Roxas! Roxas stood still, and starred them down, Sora turned around to find the rest of the gang surrounding them, they were all taller and older than them, some upperclassmen at his school, some little pushovers the same age as Roxas and Sora, and others looked like dumb drop outs, but built ones at that. Roxas could only stand silent as they barked taunts and insults. Sora followed his example.

"Where's Fujin?" The guy who seemed to be the leader stepped out of the line. Roxas closed his eyes and thought of what to do,

"I don't know.. I got out of that, so you can stop following me, now." Suddenly, Roxas and Sora were each being held by the back of the collar. Sora winced, and pulled down on the opening of his shirt, while Roxas did the same looking onwards.

"Don't give me that shit." He began, Roxas wiggled out of his grip and stepped foreword,

"Take it or leave it, but it's true. So quite stalking us."

"Whose that?" He nodded to Sora, who was on his toes, his shirt hanging above his belly with some derelict pulling on his collar,

"Another one of Fujin's delivery boys?" Roxas looked to Sora and back,

"No, has nothing to do with this. He doesn't even know what's going on." The man dropped Sora and spun him around to meet his face, Sora starred wide eyed.

"Leave him alone, Ollie!--" Roxas started, but a fist landed on his face and a knee was thrown into Sora's stomach. Sora landed on the ground gasping for air, while Roxas stumbled back trying to hold his ground. He glared up, holding his cheek.

"Now, you're going to tell us everything."

Chapter Five: The New Pollution… End.

XXX

Finally… So next chapter, they get these kids back. Actually, the WHOLE school back, so you don't want to miss that one. More interesting characters along the way, including Selphie, Yuna and some others. And, okay, I know the final fantasy and Roxas and characters like that are not really in character at all, but hey, they can't all be nice; they need to play their part in the story. Don't you love the boyish and witty Roxas?

Stay tuned for the next chapter! And thanks for reviewing!


	7. Morals of Convenience

Yay, I finished playing Kingdom Hearts II so here's another chapter…

XXX

Chapter Six: Morals of Convenience

They stood at the very corner of the campus and waited. The bell sounded, warning all the students to get to their next class; Roxas turned to Sora and Kairi.

"Okay," he started, "Remember; we only have two and a half hours." Kairi nodded and turned to Sora whose eyes were gazing off. Roxas snapped his fingers in front of him,

"Hello?" Sora shook his head and Roxas put his hands on his hips, "Look," He then remembered the buckets to be carried, lifted two of them up and handed them to Sora, "We only have a certain amount of time, and we have to keep our heads in this…" Sora grabbed the buckets, but misjudged the weight as he slumped foreword. He straightened his back and looked towards Roxas, and Roxas back at Sora. They had a few seconds to spare before the final bell… Kairi fumbled threw the gym bag and when she was sure everything was there she zipped it up and pulled the strap over her head. The bag bounced off of her side as all three of them started walking across the campus. She tugged on the bottom of her shirt and combed her hair behind her hair. She was wearing light blue jeans with a stripe pattern on the back pockets, her shirt was a light green and elbow cut. Roxas wore athletic shorts and a white shirt with grey sleeves. Sora; his tan cargo shorts, again, and a dark navy shirt. Roxas and Sora also bared new cuts and bruises; from the ambush about a week ago… Sora still had a piece of medical tape on his chin, and a couple of healing cuts on his cheek. Roxas carried his broken arm, which luckily didn't get worse during the bashing, a brown and golden shiner, a few cuts, and a huge bruise on his forehead that was red and purple but covered by his bangs.

After that incident, and I mean right after, Roxas finished perfecting his plan and shared the final result with Kairi and Sora who were now more than willing to help. Each day, going over it, showing the outlines of the school grounds, where and when they would need to be; Kairi and Sora tried to keep a mental image but also carried school maps in their gym bags. The bell finally sounded, by this time no one was outside the school walls,

"Okay, let's do it!" Roxas, Kairi and Sora picked up their pace and headed for the back entrance of the school.

XXX

Roxas saw Kairi off as she entered the building. They stood on either sides of the door and gave grim but at the same time insolent smirks. This mission was big. The door clattered behind her and she made her way down the empty hallways, her soft footsteps patted on the tile corridors as she lightly passed the millions of lockers, grey hallways; obnoxiously bright and clashing club and student body election posters. She held the bag close and kept alert.

Back on the outside, Sora had already popped off the top to one of the gallons; this jug had the tag ripped off and filled with a grimy purplish-brown. A bucket laid abandoned to the side with the lid knocked off; there was still many supplies left other than the milk gallon. As Sora rose from his position he took a whiff of the gritty looking water,

"Is this homemade?" Sora grabbed his nose. Roxas walked over and started popping off the other lid of the bucket and pulled out a similar looking solution, "Yep. Our gardener," He made a distasteful sound and expression as he unscrewed the cap, "--makes it. I would've asked but since he's illegal, I thought maybe this was too…" He hauled the grass killer up and both looked over the small gardens and the spacious school lawn. Spraying the garden wouldn't take long, and they already thought of a very nice pattern to leave on the school's yard.

Meanwhile, Kairi had a little difficulty getting away from the hall patrol,

"I have a pass from Mrs. Deaken's; drama club is meeting outside today..." She had to hand over her fake pass. The student looked at it with approval and sent her on her way. '_What a loser..'_ Kairi caught herself making this comment and chuckled. Meeting new people started to change her a little. Kairi brushed this thought off and headed into the girl's bathroom and went into one of the stalls. Locking it behind her she would see if she could really do this like practiced..

Using some rubber gloves, (all three of them insisted on this for sanitation reasons) she lifted up the toilet seat. She pulled a roll of something out of her bag. As she unraveled it and stretched it over the toilet seat, it was noticed as some clear cellophane. She secured the sides and placed the toilet seat down again. Zipped up her bag and marveled at her work… Kairi just noticed how gross this job was as she exited the girls' bathroom and didn't bother to taint the other toilets… She had to aim for the boys' restroom and faculty, '_oh great._'

Since today was block day, the three kids had about two and a half to three hours to set their traps until students spilled out of their classrooms and clubs. Sora and Roxas met up with Kairi in the hallway, on time.

"Did you finish it?" Roxas asked Kairi.

"Ugh, it was so gross! I can't believe you made me do that job…" Sora chuckled and Kairi saw Roxas's seriousness, "but I hit every faculty restroom and I think every men's room." Kairi hands were a bright red from scrubbing in the girls' bathroom's sink. Sora noticed this and laughed as Kairi combed another hair behind her ear.

"Okay! No time to waste!" Roxas quietly exclaimed in the hall, "Here comes the hardest part." Roxas saluted as he headed off in the opposite direction of Sora and Kairi.

In all of the janitor's closets any vacant offices he could find; Roxas did the same thing. Took out one of the stacked buckets and filled it with hot water, he would return to his target area and empty large amounts of dishwashing detergents into the bucket. Then, hesitantly, Roxas stood back and tossed in a few pounds of crushed dry ice kept in some Glad ware. Swiftly exiting and closing the door behind him, he chuckled at the thought of the Janitor's trying to get to their supplies to clean up all of Roxas's other pranks. This took a bit of time, so it was already a little late on schedule as he headed down the hallways to meet up with Sora and Kairi.

Hunched over, side-by-side, they stepped backwards as the carefully emptied the buckets of light brown powder empty onto the floor of the hallways. They had already hit almost all of the main halls and were just finishing up. What they were emptying was a dried concoction of iodine crystals and some ammonium hydroxide. This formed something like snap powder when stepped on. It didn't take much to activate. Just a sprinkle here and there and BOOM! Whenever someone stepped on this pressure sensitive explosive, they would get quite a fireworks starting underneath their feet.

"Do you think we should be doing this?" Kairi commented like an afterthought, ahem, after they were almost done, "We aren't even from here, we are already in trouble--" She started listing..

"Don't think about it." Sora simply answered, "Like Roxas said, revenge is sweet and we gotta treat ourselves sometimes." Kairi smiled and agreed. When they reached the end of the hallway, they started packing the stacking the buckets, making sure they weren't too snug just in case some snap powder was still in there. Their packs were so much lighter now, both of them relieved from the weight; all they had to do now was wait for Roxas.. He was a little off schedule.

Suddenly they saw him turn a sharp corner and almost ran right across the dust-coated floor. He only took one step to cause an explosion and then drove his back up against the wall and inched his way towards them, in a bit of a hurry… Once in a while accidentally setting off some snap power. A security guard followed not to far behind and didn't see the snap powder coming, why would he? As he stepped right into their trap he began dancing and avoided stepping in the same place twice. He started to shout,

"Someone help! SOMEONE GET OUT HERE AND GET THOSE KIDS!" Roxas danced along the side of the wall, swinging the bucket around in a hurry, Sora and Kairi waited at the end of the trail with frightening anticipation. The classroom doors began to open, a couple of teachers stepping out to see what the commotion was. They fell right into the trap and began dancing around like the campus police. By this time it was loud and students came to the door to watch the teachers, who moved like they were organ grinder monkeys. They laughed and others peered out of their rooms to see the two strangers and Roxas edging his way to the door. Roxas leaped the last of it and spun around to get a good look of his work.

His face showed shock, his china blue eyes shook and began to smile as he looked over the scenery. He let out a proud and loud laugh rubbing it in all of their faces. Kairi and Sora smiled behind him. The closet next to them began to leak soapsuds from under the door. Roxas noticed and turned around with a grin on his face. Sora and Kairi glanced at each other with a warm smile and then to Roxas, this had seemed to refresh Roxas; he was so happy!

Unexpectedly, another campus officer took them by surprise and tried to corner them from behind, Kairi squealed and Roxas exclaimed,

"Eat it Piggie!" He pushed him out of the way and the three of them followed his example and ran down a vacant hallway located on the outside of the school. Now another security and a teacher followed. Roxas made a swift turn and hit an emergency exit door, Sora skidded forward and caught himself. Following Roxas's sharp turn, he gets back on track.

Behind the greasy building, the back door bursts open and Roxas followed the brunette and Kairi run out and jump over the patio's back railing. When Kairi landed she stumbled onto her hands, Roxas turned back and picked her up by the wrist. Sora bouncing from foot to foot in one place, motions for them to hurry up and then looks up to the security guard who bursts open out of the back door with another man behind him. Like she was a baton, Roxas handed Kairi off to Sora, and they ran hand in hand. Meanwhile, Roxas stops and looks back with the feel of victory. He did it.

XXX

Kairi finished tying her hair back, most of the fiery hair escaped and fell foreword. Roxas and Sora sat on the empty trashcans and boxes in the alley. They were still catching their breath a little, Roxas especially; but he felt the most content. Kairi and Sora high-fived eachother.

"Yeah! We did it!" They both exclaimed. Roxas rested his head on the alley wall and chuckled. Kairi looked over and smiled, Sora caught his eyes wondering back towards Kairi though. Her hair was up. Kairi never had put it up, it looked.. precious. He broke away as Roxas spoke,

"You guys helped me so much." He started,

"Oh, don't worry about it. We were happy to get back at those pricks."

"Oooh, Kairi! I'm starting to rub off on you. Language, language." Roxas playfully scolded, Sora looked peacefully at Roxas, like a father proud of his son.

"But now it's my turn to give you guys a present." Roxas shocked them with this statement. Kairi and Sora looked at each other,

"What do you mean a present?" Sora was the first to ask,

"Well, you didn't think I would stay here after that."

"Just a couple of pranks on the school…"

"I let Fujin in on Ollie's connection." Roxas spilled and fell back, "There I said it." He sighed, content with himself. Sora's eyes grew wide and a smile stretched across his face.

"What do you mean?" Kairi asked, confused and in the dark.

"Nothing, it doesn't matter." Roxas glanced over to Sora and then back to Kairi, "But about your gift." He rested his forearms on his knees,

"I want to leave, but I want you guys to come. Where I'm going--," He spaced out, "--it will be... so much better."

"Where?" Someone asked.

"You'll see."

"How far away is it?"

"Not to far. But we'll have to take a plane." Kairi looked to Sora,

"We can't afford tickets." Sora plainly said.

"Yeah." Kairi quietly agreed, she hopped onto the trashcan next to Sora and kept her eyes scanning the ground. Roxas stood up from his seat and stood in front of them, crossed his arms and smirked,

"You dopes. That's why it's a gift—"

"Oh no," Sora's hand sliced the air horizontally, back and forth, "We couldn't.."

"No, no! What are you talking about? Listen: My dad gets free airline miles all the time cause of his job. It's no biggie." With a glum atmosphere hanging around them, Kairi kept starring towards the ground and Sora propped up his arms behind him. A car whizzed by and left a swooshing wind knocking down the alley. '_Who are they?'_

"There's no one here for you, is there?" Roxas took the silence as a positive.

"C'mon." Roxas gently said and waved them down the alley.

XXX

There was a knock at the door. Or more like a pounding, someone really wanted to get in. Sora rolled over in his bed, not wanting to get up. But they just kept pounding the door down. Sooner or later they were going to break it! He turned onto his stomach lazily and tossed his pillow on his head,

"Go away…" You could hear the muffled comment from underneath the pillow. And like his wish was answered, the knocking stopped. '_Finally, let me sleep…'_ Sora relaxed and since he was already awake, his mind began to drift into certain planes. He didn't want it to; all he wanted to do was sleep. Sora couldn't help it though, _'Here we are. Fourteen, no home.. I never guessed this would happen to me: be thrown into something like this.'_

_'Kairi; thrown into something.. something like this.'_ She seemed happy lately, but how long would it last? Sora felt awful, yesterday after those pranks, sitting in the alley, she grew quiet when Roxas thought of picking up and leaving. _'We don't have very many allies, I mean friends.'_ He threw the pillow off his head and rolled over onto his back. He rested his hands behind his head, '_Ever since we left, I think of Kairi—' _ There was another pounding at the door that interrupted his thoughts. He threw the covers off of him and lazily got to his feet and started towards the door.

Annoyed they were still banging until he was standing right in front of it, he flipped the lock and quickly pushed the door open.

"What are you doing?" Sora's heavy eyes scanned Roxas up and down. Roxas pushed Sora back into his room and invited himself in,

"Why are you still asleep? Let's go, let's go! The flight takes off in 2 hours and it takes an hour and fifteen to get t o the nearest national airport!"

Sora drowsily stumbled back, "You're kidding." '_International?'_

"No," Roxas picked up Sora's jeans and tossed them to him, Sora caught them and rubbed his fading black eye. He stood in his boxer shorts and a grey athletic shirt, watching as Roxas started picking up his belongings scattered across the floor and stuffed them into Sora's backpack.

"C'mon, move it!" Roxas commanded,

"What about Kairi?"

"I already told her, she's packing her stuff. Now put your pants on!"

Sora groaned.

XXX

They arrived at the airport by cab. Sora pressed his face up against the window as the airplane took off and flew over their car. Kairi scooted over to his side as her eyes followed the plane traveled off into the distance. She leaned over Sora,

"It's like watching a couple of toddlers, I swear.." Roxas chuckled and looked into the back. His light expression turned warm as he looked at the two. He saw the red across Sora's face, but Sora's attention was still focused out the window. The cab driver finally arrived at the entrance. Kairi's arm slipped as she tried to get back to her side.

"Sorry Sora," She lightly said when she pushed herself off of Sora's thigh. She exited the car on her side, Sora did the same.

It was when they were standing in customs Roxas remembered,

"Uh oh."

"What?" Sora and Kairi said at the same time.

"Nothing, I just remembered though…" He scrabbled through his backpack for something. All of them stepped up in the line as he finally pulled out the tickets.

"When I bought the tickets there was only two left in coach, so I had to buy one in first class." He shuffled them and extended one to Kairi,

"I think you should take it."

"Me?" Kairi took it, "But… does that mean I sit all by myself?" Roxas kept his hand extended,

"Well if you really don't want it, I'll take it." Roxas teased,

"No sounds good, I'll keep it." Sora peered at the ticket over Kairi's shoulder and whispered,

"What's first class?" Kairi turned over the ticket, back and forth,

"I don't know but it sounds good." She giggled as she approached the front of the line. She walked through the detector carefree as the siren sounded in the loud airport and the flashing light lit up for a few seconds,

"Did I break it?" She asked all nervous.

"Ma'am, can you please place your bag on the conveyer belt and empty any change or jewelry that might set off the alarm."

"Will I get it back?" Kairi demanded, Roxas inched his way passed Sora and took Kairi by the shoulder. He was embarrassed for her and gave a nervous laugh,

"Kairi, just do it…" Kairi playfully frowned. They picked up their bag off of the conveyer belt, "Oh my god, Sora look at the plane, it's huge!"

"Really, where?"

"Ugh…" Roxas groaned.

"Excuse me sir, can you step over here for a minute?" One of the security guards stopped Sora and motioned to her side.

"Um, why ma'am?" Kairi watched in fear as the security woman explained, "Just procedure, every dozen people we search in case any of the instruments have broken, or don't pick up something."

"Don't look so crept out, look they are doing it to everybody." Roxas moved over to Kairi as they waited for Sora, she scanned over the other lines but still wore an expression of discomfort. Her attention floated back to the airport and the noise and liveliness of the airport. People roaming around with their children, taking them by the hand towards their terminals. Others shopping at one of the many stands for a magazine or a good novel; many already reading or listening to their headphones waiting for their plane to arrive. Kairi tilted her head and thought deeply about that strange equipment, the boy sitting at his terminal tapping his foot while these cords dangled out of his ears. _'Does he have bad hearing or something? What is it?'_

"What's that pole thing?" Sora's quivering body was spread as the screeching rod hovered over his body. The woman scanned his arms and legs. His face was pleading for help. Finally the woman stopped and handed him his bag again,

"Thank you, sir." Sora approached Kairi and Roxas. Roxas who was being over amused at this point tried to keep from pissing himself.

"You know, suddenly I don't want to fly." Sora rolled up the ticket in his hand and squeezed hard. As he got closer and closer to actually boarding one of those huge machines that managed to float up in the air.

"It's not that bad. Trust me Sora, people freak out over it but my family has traveled from home to ho—"

"But that huge metal thing with those tiny wings staying up in the air! Look at it, it's not natural!"

"What a girl." Kairi laughed.

"Oh man, you're getting so tweaked over nothing, Sora! C'mon!" Roxas pushed both of them to the terminal.

XXX

_Roxas's P.O.V._

The violent aroma of the airplane food was the first thing I noticed when I started to wake. It invaded my nose and mouth, the loud but now subtle humming of the engines suffocated my ears and made me feel as though my head was going to burst. Me and Sora were located on the right side of the plane, and as soon as I opened my eyes I expected to see the exact image that I observed right before falling asleep. Almost the same. It had gotten a lot darker; the plane had been traveling away from the sun so now it was in the early hours of the morning. Another movie was playing on the big screen located in the front row of our section. Hundreds of eyes gazed upon the huge screen, taking a sip of their airline drink and others working on crossword puzzles, reading novels with the spotlights shining down on them. A little boy that was playing on one of those handhelds clicked a button on his armrest, the light dispersed and the little boy wrapped himself in his thin red airline blanket. Some people had drifted into a sleep, curling their legs, the children mostly sleeping with their knees to their chest while the adults had managed to find a comfortable position with their legs planted on the ground. I then observed a woman who slept with her shoulder digging into the back of the chair, headphones still on and wrapped in one of the paper airline blankets. She rubbed her head into the tiny white spongy pillow.

I finally settled myself upright and, still feeling a bit groggy, looked over to Sora who was sitting in the window seat. He was starring out the window, at the night sky. The smoky wisps of clouds hovered over a dark navy that was the ocean. He rested his cheek on his palm and studied the view. Sora seemed so… out there. Distant, always daydreaming or thinking about something. I wanted to talk. Later, I would notice I always did that to break tension, to fill up space, time, empty emotion – on a side note, a girl fed me all this information, she told me I caused tension to shatter with words. She even said one time, I fill these kind of empty atmospheres with empty words; I told her that was not the case. There's always a reason for me to be talking… Or did I really like the sound of my own voice? Nah, I always have good intentions.

"Hey," I tapped Sora on the shoulder, "How long have I been asleep?"

"Only two hours." He flatly said, obviously his mind still caught up with something else.

"Oh," I removed my headset and let it hang around my neck. He seemed like a nice guy. Quiet, didn't talk about himself a lot. We both gazed into the back of the seat in front of them until I broke the tension again and asked,

"Can I ask you something?" Sora turned his head; his eyes that were almost identical to mine were the only things that shimmered in the poor light. Had he been thinking about something, about someone? I didn't really understand his relationship with Kairi and wanted to ask. Bleh, it looked like a middle school crush or something – puppy love – don't you just want to smack him?

"Go ahead." He turned back to gazing off into nothing, I kept my eyes on him,

"Why did you run away?" Our eyes met. His were quivering; Sora didn't know what to do when asked this question. His eyes got lost for a moment, like he was trying to get out of it. Then their purpose returned and he store me down,

"I did something really bad." My peripheral vision caught his thumbs twiddling over one another, then he flexed his fingers and stopped, "I mean, awful." I took a moment to take this in, he looked at me and then hanged his head low like a child who just stole a cookie before dinner. What could this kid do that was so awful? It would be ridiculous to think it could be too bad, he had proven to be nothing but helpful to me, and it always seemed like he was the sensitive kind; the way he tried to understand me, and understand her; Kairi. I looked down, he began to wrap his finger in his shirt, once, twice, until it became a big ball and then he let go, the shirt falling in wrinkles.

I was thinking about punching him in the arm and teasing him, saying how a innocent little being get into trouble all on his own. But his look, this tension; I owed more respect.

"C'mon, what's so bad that you had to leave?" I tried to ask in a carefree attitude. Instantly he remarked,

"Didn't I tell you I got into that fight with Kairi's dad?

"Well, yeah." I answered and in my mind I recalled the conversation we had at the basketball court. I laid a lot of information on him, would he do the same with me? I was hoping he would continue, that one remark wasn't going to satisfy me. I pried my eyes away from him and started starring at the back of the seat again,

"Did he find out you and Kairi were like secretly dating or something and then threatened you? If you broke your arm it got pretty physical right?"

Sora looked at me very confused for a moment, and it almost turned into a look of disgust. It was like I was some gross alien and I had just spit in my hand and offered a Martian greeting. That's how extreme that look was,

"Sorry, man." I backed off but bounced back in another minute,

"Sora, just get it off your chest.. You know you want to spill it – keeping it all bottled up isn't gonna do you any good."

Sora had his neck arched, starring right into the ceiling and I thought he didn't hear me until he began to nod. He brought his head down, and nodded some more, constantly. Slowly he turned for the millionth time and looked at me,

"You can't tell her. You can't tell her I told you this. Otherwise, I would be breaking my promise – but somebody else has to know, I think it will help her!" He gripped the armrest in-between us, he was trying to get me to agree with him and was convincing himself that he needed to unravel whatever he did at the same time. All I did was stare back and looked into each one of his eyes, trying to see into his past before he told me. I braced myself,

"No one will know. C'mon, let it all spill, you don't have to hold anything back. Where are you and Kairi from, just tell me everything," This was beginning to sound very extreme, what had happened to these kids? What had they caused wherever they were from? When he told me this story, he tried to avoid looking at me in the eye; I knew exactly what he was thinking, 'Does he really want to hear? Do I really want to tell? Should I tell him everything or only parts? Where should I begin?' Sora looked as though he was being suffocated by worry and stress. He brought a knee to his chest and then let it slide to the side where it rested on the oval shaped window. He shook his head, combed a hand through his hair and began calmly,

"I don't know who my real parents are. The earliest memory I have is taking my first communion while I was staying with one of the church folk. Umm, Kairi and me grew up in a tiny town, and it was nothing like this. We didn't have gas stoves like back at the parlor or television in every house or nothing. Farming and livestock was how you lived life; there was one school, one bank, one church. When I was seven, I moved in with a large family that had an ill mother. The father, his name was Ansem, worked me real hard."

"If it was such a large family, why didn't the children just help?" Sora looked at me strange and then,

"Oh, yeah, heh," Sora smiled for the first time since we got on the plane, "they were all girls. Three sisters." He held up three fingers and I wanted to smile but was too focused on what was to come. I imagined him thinking back on sweet memories of playing with his sisters,

"Anyways, Tifa and Rinoa were five and three, now they would be.." I imagined him recalling the last family birthday parties they spent together, "Twelve and ten… huh…" Sora gazed off again, he rubbed his arm along his forehead and eyes, I really hoped that he wasn't going to start crying, "Tifa's twelve," He turned to me with a cheesy smile, "I missed her last birthday. Didn't even notice." I managed a shy smile for his sake that time.

"Oh and Yuffie, she was the only one that was older and could do field work at the time. Not soon after I arrived, the mother passed away and Ansem seemed to blame me for it. He would throw work and chores and work on me like you wouldn't believe! And if wasn't done right I would get punished," He didn't even want to spill that he was beaten, I learned that from Kairi.

"There was only one person that ever cared for me." Sora began to blush but once again he didn't seem to notice, "My sisters were always there for me but my best friend since I moved into that house was Kairi. She lived about half a mile down the road which is the closer than anyone else. We went to school together of course and I'm serious when I say that we were the only thing that kept growing, everything else – died. When Kairi was eleven her _father_ divorced for the second time," He furrowed his brows and strained on the word father with confusion and disgust; obviously it was more than one fight, "The mother took Kairi's half sister and brother which left Kairi all alone in the house. She had to do a lot more work without her mother there, I felt really awful, so I would help out whenever I was done with my chores. After all, she used to do the same for me."

"Just earlier this year I took the sheep into town to get sheered, and while I was there I had a little vacation, visited Kairi's older sis and her husband, did some shopping, I even bought Kairi this really nice gift, you know…" I leaned on the armrest cheek in palm, totally digging this story. I'm really glad I told him to spill everything; it was really interesting to hear from another person who lived in such a different environment. Oh god, I know that sounded totally geeky but c'mon, with all of the places I have been, I never once lived in a total rural area like that. On a farm and such. At times in his story it sounded like a total bother and some real dirty work, but whenever he talked about his sisters or Kairi, all the dirty work seemed to melt away— His speech changed; like just having them there made it heaven, and although he didn't admit it, I can tell all he did was live everyday for them.

"When I came back," I blinked when his tone changed very dark and annoyed, almost angry, "I was afraid that Ansem would notice I spent some of the money on Kairi's gift, but this wasn't the case. He was actually happy." Then why aren't you sounding too happy, Sora, "And Kairi was there too, we spent the whole day together; I sat in the kitchen telling Yuffie and Kairi all about what I did in town while playing cards with Rinoa. It was perfect right at that time. Until…" I lifted my head up from my palm, ignored the roaring engine and stewardess that kept pestering us about a drink, Sora would fall silent whenever one came by, and listened with all my attention and heart in it, "until I asked Kairi for the millionth time that day, 'Don't you need to get home, Kai?' She was acting really strange and told me that she didn't need to be, that all was well, her father was resting and she could hang out some more. But when it was finally dark, and I asked her again she shocked me by asking if she could stay with me instead,"

A side note from me, Roxas: Alright, I'm just gonna throw it out there and say what I was thinking, and what you were probably thinking too: For a second I thought I had it figured out. I really did believe that innocent little Kairi and Sora weren't so innocent after all, that they had done the dirty that night and Sora was gonna have to pay dearly for it from Kairi's father when he asked her where she was the night before. I KNOW, that sounds awful for me to judge Sora and Kairi like that but c'mon, after listening for that long I was feeling creative with my own stories. You know? You know! But I shook my head and thought it over, that wouldn't be possible; "_they_ _just sweet littl' ol' chillin' after all" _and that couldn't be… So I waited and listened.

"—with me instead, I finally asked her what was up and she tried to dodge it with an excuse but then she broke down and started crying." Sora shook his head and was gritting his teeth underneath his lips, "She finally told me," Sora hesitated, took a deep breath, "She had been, been raped."

This couldn't be, not the same Kairi I know-- But I had no time to think, my eyes grew wide then I glanced away for a moment, the corners of my mouth went limp and I just kept listening,

"I pulled up her sleeves, bruises on her arms. I felt sick that something could happen like that. I-I," He cleared his throat and just forgot whatever he was about to say, "I walked her home, she was really scarred," He continued with a hoarse voice but then cleared his throat, "The next day , her and her father came to my home, I saw their car coming from the kitchen, I knew what was going to happen, I had the feeling in my gut. I knew I wouldn't go unpunished, I should've been there for her but I was in town, I took that extra day to shop for that gift I was going to give to her." How could he feel so guilty for something that wasn't even his fault? No wonder he seemed so protective of her. I mean, I never felt guilty for anything, even the stuff I admitted to doing. It wasn't right, he was too pure.

"Kairi's father told Ansem that I touched his daughter. That I had raped her. Ansem of course believed him and I got the worst thrashing ever. But the most embarrassing thing was that Kairi and my sister Yuffie witnessed it. I got kicked out of the house afterwards and stayed at a stray barn where Yuffie would come secretly and bring me food and wrap my bandages. She even told Kairi where I was so I could still talk to her in secret too. And I got better over time and then Kairi came again, really upset for the second time, and told me that the same man tried to touch her again." Finally he glanced at me, but his face looked upset and angry, " I told her to tell me, I ordered her to tell me. She was really afraid to but eventually said that the man who did it was her own father."

I squirmed in my seat and tried to put myself in their place, whichever one; Sora or Kairi. I couldn't imagine what hell that must have been, what those two had been through. Sora finished up the last of the story, told me that he went to Kairi's house to settle things. Her father was drunk and Sora had ended up killing him with a candle muffler. He was really guilty when he told that part of the story, especially. He told me that he stole Kairi's father away from her, I tried to argue that it was to protect her right then and there and that if he did nothing he and Kairi would be dead from that drunk maniac but he still confessed that he wanted to know how Kairi felt,

"I want to tell her I'm sorry for doing that, for taking that from her but then again shouldn't she be happy to be rid of a man that posed as her biological father and then raped her? Would I be insulting her if I said I was sorry."

"Sora," I tried to protest.

"But, Roxas.. What should I feel more for? Her being raped? Or me murdering her father?"

Didn't he notice it was a shared murder? And not murder but self-defense…

"Why didn't you go to the police in the first place?" I didn't want to insult Sora, but the words had already flew out of my mouth,

"They wouldn't have believed us." Sora had already thought about this, "I am the perfect person to blame because everyone believed that something like that could never happen in their town." Sora gulped, "I used to think that too." I couldn't say anything. For once, I wasn't thinking of how to console him but instead trying to relive whatever memories replayed in Sora's mind.

"I think Kairi wants to tell someone too, but I'm not sure. I don't want to go up to her and start talking about it. But I want her to know I'm here to listen… Thanks for listening – I feel a lot better."

XXX

Two full and long hours passed before they spoke again, Roxas was sorry he had brought back so many painful memories but was a little content with knowing Sora trusted him. It must have been because Sora never had another guy to talk things over. _'That's why he's so sensitive… damn, it's kind of lucky.' _Roxas thought. He looked over towards Sora, who's dead eyes were fixed on something that laid beyond the window. I opened my mouth to speak—

"Hey how's it going in the lesser class," Kairi surprised the boys. She shook the armrest, "Deprived of the built in t.v. and those," Her face twisted up trying to remember, "Those minerature computer things… what were they called? Oh yeah, Laptops!"

"You have laptops!" Roxas exclaimed.

"Oh yeah! There really cool! They come of our armrest here…" She ran her fingers across it, Roxas looked over to Sora who glanced down and then to Kairi with a warm smile. His eyes quickly shifted to Roxas, pleading, and then back to Kairi, the young blonde understood. He would not tell. A stewardess pushed a cart up the isle, seeing how there was no way to get around the crowded and narrow isle she scooted into the little space we had in front of our knees. She turned around and apologized to the people sitting in front of us for knocking the back of their seats.

"You know it's not fair," Kairi knelt in the isle and rested her arms on the chair arm, "I have to sit up there all by myself while you guys get to hang back here." She teased and giggled.

"Hey, I'll switch seats any day." Roxas joked.

"Do they have better food up there?" Sora asking, the food served to him made him wanna puke.

"Let's see, we had steak, baked potato, some veggies.."

"Steak?" Sora barked back, Roxas laughed and nudged him in the arm, "Next time will fly first class and Kairi can hang back here and snack on that crappy beef pasta we had. Ha!" Sora smirked and Kairi made a pouting face as she rested her chin on the armrest.

"How much longer 'til we land?"

"A little over an hour and a half." Roxas stated.

"Thank God, I really want to get out of here," Sora did a long yawn as he stretched his arms high over his head.

"Did you sleep at all since we've been on?" Roxas asked with a smirk, Sora glanced at him and then at Kairi when she began to talk,

"A nap sounds good right now. See you in two hours?" She wondered back to her seat. Roxas glanced over to Sora whose eyes were still fixed on her, disappearing behind the curtain. He was resting his cheek on his fist, Roxas pushed his arm off the armrest.

"What?" Sora said annoyed,

"You like her." Roxas teased. Sora looked confused,

"What do you mean? She's my best friend,"

"Well Sora, I think you have a crush on your best friend."

"Nuh-uh…" Sora's eyes shifted back and forth on the ground frantically. '_Was that it? I "like" Kairi? How did that happen? I can't do that' _

"Yeah you do! Look, it's written all over your face! Your even blushing!" Roxas pointed and started taunting him. He liked putting on a happy conversation after that whole gloomy story. Sora smacked his cheeks,

"No I'm not!"

"You're answering pretty quick there, buddy."

"This can't be…" He relaxed and collapsed back in his chair. So much had been revealed sitting in this little plane. _'I like Kairi, I like Kairi… Why now…?'_

"I can't like her.." Sora repeated his thoughts aloud.

"You mean you're just figuring out you like her now?"

Sora shook his head. And Roxas rolled his eyes,

"C'mon, both of you are always glancing at each other from across the room, Kairi always finds her way right next to you. Sora, all today you were blushing whenever she bumped into you or even touched you."

"No I didn't."

"Yeah you did!"

"Did I? Have I been doing that?"

Had Sora really just discover how much he liked her? Roxas's voice went soft,

"Yeah." Sora looked anxious again,

"Oh my god…" Roxas was going to let him dwell in his own feelings for a bit. He put on his headphones, started pressing stations on his armrest as the sky started to turn pink outside and the sun peeked over the horizon.

"I just don't want to catch both of you guys sneaking into the airline lavatories."

"What'd you say?"

"Nothing."

Chapter 6: Morals of Convenience… End.

XXX

Yay, no secrets anymore. Except for where they are going.. You're gonna meet Yuna and a couple other characters in the next chapter

Hehe, how will Sora act around Kairi now that he discovered how much he likes her? Please review and stay tuned!


	8. SunEyed Girl In The Earthquake Weather

Chapter Seven; here it is!

XXX

Chapter Seven: Sun-Eyed Girl In The Earthquake Weather

A city of heights. Condensed, crowded, compact and solid. The buildings and skyscrapers spiraling up into the sky, narrow and blooming. If you looked from a distance, the city was like a fan of urban structures and formations, the tallest in the center and the heights would gently fall and collide with the neighborhoods. The city was so murky. A cloud hung over the city like a vapor venom, slowly dripping back down into the streets.

The neighborhoods were not as foggy or dirty, they were still crowded, still looking as though a giant had bent over and squeezed all of the houses together. Slender three-story cream, tan, and red brick houses with pastel colored shudders were pushed up against each other and to the very edge of the property. Hanging ferns and plants would make-up for the absences of the front and back lawns, and small wire fenced trees planted on sidewalks by the city gave the winding streets a more neighbor-like feel.

Roxas handed the funny talking cab driver a wad of money and smiled as he rolled up the window,

"Thanks a bunch!" Roxas tapped the taxi's car door and watched as the small and compact car flew down the street, following one of the many winding roads back to its origins in the inner city.

"Where are we?" Kairi sat at the bottom of one of the house's stoops. Her bag still attached to her back, she leaned foreword and rested her chin on two fists. Her bottom lip protruding as she pouted,

"Roooooxxaaaas! What's taking so long?"

He turned around with a puzzled look, his eyes fixed on written in a little blue journal he held in his hands. He glanced up once at the houses addresses and then back down, he scratched his cheek and after another glance shut the notebook. Sora watched him through his shaggy brown bangs, his neck tucked in and arms folded across his chest as he leaned up against the sidewall of the stoop. Roxas rolled up his notebook and stuck it in his backpack and pointed to the residence next door.

"One house off. I was really close though…" Roxas chuckled. Kairi and Sora followed him to the house next door. Roxas shuffled up the stoop and hesitated before he rang the doorbell. Sora and Kairi glanced at each other as he took the time to comb down the back of his hair.

"Who's he trying to look good for? He he…" Kairi nudged Sora and they both giggled. Roxas silenced them with a 'shh!' then slowly and with a shaky finger, he rang the doorbell. A long _'ding-doooooooooong'_ could be heard from inside the house, followed by the shrieking and giggling of girls and a rumbling rolling along the floors. The door swung open have way and a girl spun her head around smiling and laughing, then she saw her company and her smile melted into confusion. Then anger. Her almond hair was in curly pigtails with blue ribbon that matched her plaid pleaded skirt and tie, her colored shirt and navy knee socks gave Kairi and Sora the impression that it was a uniform of some sort. Kairi peered through Roxas's legs and down to the girls shoes; they were pink and brown roller skates, the old fashioned kind with the huge rubber front and back stoppers. Sora focused on her face that had been given a dramatic makeover with bright and bold pink eye shadow and blush. They slowly caused her to rock back and forth. Finally after many awkward moments of silence, she raised one her fine eyebrows and in an annoyed fashion opened her mouth about to speak—but Roxas slumped foreword first,

"Oh no."

"Oh no! I should be the one to say that, you scrappy little fo-hawked rat!" The girl stomped one of her skates and spat out. She spoke with a posh and prestige accent, pronouncing all of her constantans with a crisp and confident deliver. She shook her curly pigtails and threw her face into Roxas's,

"You better leave before I have to make you!"

"Oh Seeeelphieeeeee!" Another girl chirped from inside the house. She crashed into pigtailed brunette still giggling. Her hair was dark and wrapped into two buns, similar to Selphie's in that ribbons were wrapped around them very casually. Except hers were red.

"Hmm, Selphie; older men?" She teased, her speech also superior sounding and crisp but her voice was lighter and high-pitched; shrilling but friendlier than the other girl's. The girl giggled and continued,

"He's pretty cute! Huh? Didn't you used to go to our school?" She peeked over Roxas's shoulder. She shimmied by Roxas and stood in front of Sora, "And who's your friend?"

"Ola' it's not what you think."

"I'm Olette," She placed a hand on her chest and ended in a giggle. She touched Sora's shoulder flirtatiously, but he stepped back trying not to be too rude and gave a sheepish smile.

"Ola'…" Selphie said demanding and annoyed. Her head shifted back to Roxas, having to look slightly up because of the height difference,

"Look, Yuna isn't here anymore so you can just go." Selphie pulled the Olette girl back into the house and slammed the door shut but Roxas slipped his foot inside and refused to let her go,

"What do you mean she isn't here?" Selphie kept trying to push the door shut but was having no difficulty because the skates would slip underneath her every time she shifted her weight into the door. Her pigtails swung and her eyes with bold pink eye shadow widened,

"Leave now before I call the authorities! Now, remove your foot!" She began kicking the side of his sneaker with her pink and brown skates.

"No! Selphie," Roxas raised his voice and Kairi stumbled back, was it really that serious?

"Selphie please," Roxas said pleadingly and then smacked his hand on the front door, "Just let me in!"

"No!—"

"Oh Selphie, just let them in!" Olette tugged at Selphie's arm from behind the door. Selphie raised her eyes towards her and then back outside towards Roxas. Her eyes drifted from him and fixed past him on Sora and Kairi. She sighed and made a grunting noise. Selphie skated back and let them in, knowing deep down she would regret it.

XXX

This house was classy, more modern but still held a lot of class. All of them passed the elegant black railed and red carpeted stairs and headed strait into the living room of the small narrow house. The girls' skates made a low rumbling sound as they picked up and dropped their skates on the wooden floor. As they entered, Sora and Kairi observed:

The family room was openly connected to the kitchen and only a small archway separated the family room from the dining table in the next. Both the rooms had their walls covered with abstract paintings and old family pictures, the floor in the living room was made of wood and the kitchen made of tile. All the kitchen appliances were black, the countertops filed with red, white and yellow mosaic tiles; many squiggles and abstract designs. The dining table in the next room was made of glass, it matched the coffee tables in front of the black leather furniture and big plasma screen television. The trendy shag rug underneath the table was had another nonfigurative design on it, made of reds, whites, yellows and blues.

Selphie plopped herself down on the long black couch and covered one of the decorative throw pillows on her lap. Three colors were on the black couch; there were red, blue and yellow pillows. With his eyes locked on Selphie with much suspicion, Roxas rested on the black loveseat. They stared at each other, Kairi's eyes went back and forth between them; it was hate that was shooting from their eyes and Kairi stiffened in the tense atmosphere. Sora sat on the armrest of the loveseat as Kairi chose the empty recliner that was on Sora's right and furthest away from Selphie, who was glaring at Roxas from the couch. Her skin tone was one that matched Sora's, a little browner than usual and her hair was a light brown pulled up in pigtails and fell in bouncy curls. Her eyes were an edgy emerald and her outstretched legs were longer in comparison to her body. To say the least, her family gene pool had left her a very lucky girl. Olette looked very similar with light bronze appearance but her figure was different. While Selphie was almost all legs, Olette had the bust of a sixteen-year-old, even though she was three years younger than that age. Selphie's eyes watched Roxas as Roxas's watched hers. The eyes held annoyance, frustration, and a past.

"Would you like a drink, umm, what was your name?" That posh yet high-pitched girly voice ran through Sora's ear. When he turned his head he found the girl called Olette batting her eyelashes and standing uncomfortably close to Sora, her leg touching his that was dangling off the side of the couch. He slid into the loveseat next to Roxas, very cautious and at unease.

"Ola' will you stop?" Olette spun around still with an unaffected smile plastered to her face and walked to the refrigerator in the kitchen. She pulled out a pitcher and set it on the counter, and during all this time everyone in the living room is either confused or tense. Olette opened the drawer below the refrigerator, a cold fog crept out as she pulled some cloudy glasses. She brought them over to the coffee glass coffee table and set them down. As the robust and busty girl bent over, Roxas and Sora looked sidelong at each other; luckily the pleaded skirt was just long enough. The boys cheeks hardened with red, they felt embarrassed for her. Sora turned away and clasped a hand on his face. Kairi quietly giggled,

"Too hot to handle?" Another more vibrant rush of red came to Sora's cheeks,

"Kairi…"

"He," She gave him a goofy smile. Roxas watched their little conversation go on, his head resting in his palm as his elbow sunk into the armrest of the black leather sofa. As Olette sat down, Selphie came bold and blunt,

"Why are you here? Yuna isn—"

"Where is she? Can you tell me please?"

"Why?"

"Yeah, why do you want to see Selphie's sister? You know she's a—" Slephie covered her mouth, the girl continued with muffled remarks and her eyes showed sincerity and confusion. Roxas sat on the edge of his seat.

"Roxas, who's this Yuna?" Kairi muttered.

"She's not interested in you, so bug off!"

"Please Selphie. I came all this way," Roxas clasped his hands together and hung his head. Selphie's hands left Olette and she crossed her arms and pouted,

"Absolutely pathetic…" She began in a posh and crisp accent, and then it lead into, "Maybe we should talk later…"

"When will you tell me?" Roxas asked in a fast and commanding voice, Selphie's eyebrows furrowed and her eyes narrowed in on Roxas. An uncomfortable silence followed, each second Sora and Kairi thinking Selphie would respond, but no; just more silence. Waiting, waiting.. What seemed like long minutes as the moments lingered and suffocated them in the air. Kairi nervously smiled and raised her shoulders as her hands were scrunched underneath her thighs,

"Were you guys giving makeovers?" She sweetly interrupted and directed that question more towards Olette. Selphie and Olette looked at each other shockingly. Selphie began to rub off her makeup as Olette replied kindly,

"Why yes…" She then smiled and clapped her hands and held them like in a prayer underneath her neck,

"Would you like one?" Her hands still raised and folded affectionately underneath her chin as she walked over to Kairi, whose expression became worrisome.

"Oh, no! Really, you don't have to do that, please."

"Nonsense! It'll be fun while these two talk!" Kairi raised her hands in defense and Olette turned her attention to Sora,

"And it will be so much fun to give one to a boy as well!"

"Oh no, that's really alrigh—"

"Oh, nonsense!" She repeated and started pulling on Kairi's arm.

XXX

She felt so much more refreshed once she washed her face. All of that dirt and dust just accumulating over that long, long time on the plane --- ick! It felt so gross. Kairi walked back into the bedroom that was connected to the private bathroom. The room's walls were covered in a warm peach. The queen-sized bed was centered along the back wall and took up most of the space in the room. A translucent pink canopy fell like curtains around Selphie's pillow crowded bed. The bed frame was a light blue, as was all of the furniture. Kairi stepped into the bedroom, her bangs a little damp, and glimpsed the backs of Sora and Olette on the floor, Olette giggling. Sora heard Kairi enter the door and looked at her with sympathy while Olette beamed with energy as she danced over to Kairi holding two containers in her hand, one of them occupied something green,

"Okay, I let _Sora_ choose your makeup for you!" When she said his name, it carried the accent as well. She stretched out the first syllable and rolled the R and then quickened the ending A with a 'reh' sound. It sounded more like _Soré _or _Sor-A, _not _Sor-uh _which is how it's properly pronounced. Kairi snatched the container and looked at it with shock. She stomped over to Sora and pressed it into Sora's face, scolding,

"What? Green? With this hair? Are you trying to make me look like a Christmas tree?" Sora sheepishly smiled with his eyes closed and defended with his hands raised,

"Well how am I supposed to know about this stuff?" He stood up and remarked, "Besides, I thought you liked green."

"Make up is based on totally different factors," Olette stated like a scientist. Kairi turned around and Sora looked over her shoulder onto Olette. She was digging through Selphie's dresser drawers and pulled out another box. She set it on the floor and squatted on the white carpeted floor.

"When you apply colors you need to think of the two different skin tones each person has, their hair color, and light and dark opposites of what the person wears." Olette fumbled through the case of makeup, taking out removable levels and compartments; sort of like a child's toy but with enough make up to apply to the whole cast of a movie or play…

"The thing to remember is that you never want to match the makeup with the person's eye color, or what they're wearing…" She turned around with a bubbly expression and held up a couple more containers, "It is so embarrassing when you see people clashing with themselves, _hehe_!"

Kairi picked the containers from Olette's hand and examined them. "Here, instead of green I picked out a shade of pink and cold grey for your eye shadow… And then a subtle kind of dark pink for your lips." She smiled and reached for something behind her back on the floor. It was another container, yet larger and closer to Kairi's skin color, "At least I think Sora got the base and blush right…" She giggled and put all of the makeup down, taking it from Kairi and lining them up in front of her. Kairi laid on the carpet and inspected the colors. Olette let her dark brown hair down and put it back up into a pony tail. She sat cross-legged in front of Kairi on the floor, she told her to sit up so she could start. Sora wondered around the room, he passed by the other vanity desk and let his fingers softly pass over some pictures stuck in the frame of the mirror. He picked up another picture sitting on the desk, some of them were of Selphie and friends, Olette in a lot of them, and others had just her and another girl, an older girl; they looked very much alike.

"Start with the base." Olette rearranged her self on the floor and sat on her shoes while Kairi sat cross-legged. She dipped the pad in the fluffy and light powder and ran the pad over Kairi's face. It was so light and gentle yet the only thing Kairi could see was Olette's face. Face to face, this girl she had just met less than an hour ago, giving her a makeover while both of their friends downstairs discussed riddles about some girl. This thing should be done with best friends, girlfriends that have known each other… Kairi had never had a real girlfriend to talk to, there was Quistis but she seemed so unreachable and hard to talk to. Olette seemed nice, always giggling and bubbly. Kairi got the impression she was a bit boy crazy but that was alright. Kairi got a closer look at Olette. Her eyebrows were very fine and dark like her hair. Her eyes were a brilliant lime; the shadows of the pupil a dark olive. Olette's lips were always puckered up or pushed out, they were covered with an exquisite maroon lip gloss. Her cheeks were painted with a dramatic blush and her glittery yellow eye-shadow fanned out and blended into her skin.

"Okay, close your eyes." Kairi obeyed and squeezed them shut.

"_Relax_." She heard Olette say and then made her face less tense. After a moment's hesitation she felt the bristles swipe across her eyes. Back and forth, Kairi could tell the colors become more intense as Olette used different feeling utensils to get into smaller and more precise areas.

"Looks good," Sora's voice sounded in Kairi's ears. He was close, watching over Olette's shoulder. Kairi bit her lip as Olette became more precise and condensed her brushing area.

"Open your eyes," Kairi's eyes shot open and she saw Olette smiling wide-eyed and Sora with his hands on his knees. Olette looked down and searched for something on the floor while Kairi's gaze shifted to Sora's. His eyes shifted back and forth between Kairi's eyes. His orbs were half closed and affectionately scanning over Kairi with a smile. _'Why is he smiling at me like that?' _Sora's expression crashed and he broke eye contact and glanced away. Kairi was confused and a little sad why he did that but Olette's head popped up again,

"Okay, a little mascara," Kairi watched as Sora sat down beyond Olette and propped his arms up behind him. She watched his profile, he looked sad as he starred into the carpet. Olette was about to apply it but then pulled her hand back when she remarked,

"Wow, your eyelashes are already so long and dark," Sora head turned and he looked with a blank expression. But then he lightly smiled and nodded,

"Yeah." He softly agreed and Kairi squirmed, it was weird having Sora pay her a compliment like that. He had never ever mentioned anything about her looks except that one time when she got the hair cut. That was the only time, and then this one… it felt good but really awkward and strange. Olette started to apply the mascara over her eyelashes and then was ready to apply it to the bottom,

"Okay, now look up." Kairi looked up, she couldn't see Sora and squirmed, wondering if he was still watching her. _'Why does it matter? Why do I care?' _When Olette was down with her bottom lashes, Kairi felt something brush up against her lips. She pulled away on impulse and Olette sat there confused with the lip-gloss still in her hand,

"I changed the shade to something lighter," Olette leaned in and re-applied it to the bottom lip. Then she sat back,

"Okay now do this," Olette rubbed her lips together and then so did Kairi. When Kairi was finished, Olette smiled and brushed some of Kairi's bangs to the side of her face with her hand,

"Okay, cuh-uuute!" She smiled and grabbed a hand mirror, "You look so pretty, _Kairi_." The first time she said her name. But before Kairi could look in the mirror Olette stood up and tapped her shoulder, Kairi looked up,

"Oh, go look in the bigger mirror!" She pointed to the vanity. Kairi stood up and started to walk to the vanity desk. She took in a deep breath when she saw herself. The edges of her eyelid were a soft grey that blended and faded into a lighter and lighter pink. Here eyelashes were long and wild, her cheeks had a little blush and her lips were in a shiny coat of sweet flavor. Strawberry, Kairi thought as she meshed her lips together and enjoyed the sweet gloss.

"You look really nice, Kai'." Sora said more chipper and up beat. Kairi combed her hair behind her ear as she turned and nervously chuckled.

"Have you ever worn makeup before?" Olette was now re-applying lip-gloss to her own lips, puckering them even more. She began to collect and examine the other makeup,

"Now for Sora!"

"What? No, we don't have t—"

Sora stopped mid sentence as the door burst open, it was Roxas,

"Sora, Kairi, let's move on out!"

'_Oh thank god!' _Sora rose from the floor and exited, Kairi smiled to Olette and followed.

"See ya," The red head grinned and Roxas closed the door behind her. Sora and Kairi passed by Selphie at the edge of the stairs. And Roxas, who was the last one to follow, stopped in front of her. Selphie still looking angry stared down Roxas.

"We'll come back to visit." Roxas said soft and kind. Selphie turned her head,

"Don't bother," she spat out and pouted. Roxas smirked and passed her; going down the stairs and out the front door.

XXX

With a hand extended, Roxas paced down the streets. He walked backwards and scanned the on coming cars speeding down the road. Kairi and Sora followed, both with their bags on their back. Sora walked with his hands in his pockets while Kairi fluffed the back of her hair.

"So Roxas, what are we doing? Are we going to go see that Yuna-girl you guys keep talking about?" Sora spoke, his bangs hanging in front of his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. She'll be happy to see us, I don't care what Selphie says." Roxas exclaimed all exited and happy. His face was beaming with joy.

"Who is she? Did you used to live here too?" Roxas came to a stop and kept waving his hand for a cab. Kairi didn't know what was going on, she was in her own little world discovering her girly and feminine sides.

"Yeah she's an old friend—Ha! Got the taxi!" A cab slowed down and came to a stop. Roxas opened the front door, swung his backpack off while Sora climbed into the backseat.

"Too bad we couldn't stay longer, "Kairi followed after him, "I would've enjoyed giving Sora a makeover." She laughed and settled herself next to Sora who dully replied,

"That would not be enjoyable at all." Kairi slammed the cab door shut. Roxas told the cab driver the directions Selphie had given him. Then Roxas looked into the backseat at Kairi,

"Oh yeah? Did Olette give you a makeover Kairi? It looks good."

"Thanks!" Kairi felt like she could get used to all these compliments!

"Did you used to know Olette too?" Sora kept questioning with curiosity,

"Yeah, I was a grade ahead of her… I'm not surprised she doesn't remember me. Nice girl but not exactly the brightest, you know?" Roxas sat back in his seat.

The cab was slowly being pulled into the downtown of the city, falling into the pits of urban culture. The cab started to slow down in what looked like not such a nice neighborhoods. There were few that walked on the streets without looking shady. There were also many women in risqué clothing. These were the slums of the city, there was old inns and run down hotels that were bought and used by the women to serve the public in more than bed and breakfast. Drug dealers, broken bars and some poor apartments. The grey crumbling buildings, the experimental and scary atmosphere; in these parts the fog that hung in the air was even thicker. You could taste the smog, chocking , and feel the thickness of it. It suffocated your senses, watered the eyes of newcomers and engulfed the throat.

Roxas asked the cab driver to stop, his expression became blank as he pulled over to the side of the road. Where they had stopped, there were two women resting against the side of the building, they passed a cigarette back and forth. One of them began to push herself off the wall and walk over to the cab but then hesitated when she realized it was full with kids. She was a beautiful and tall blonde, at least over six feet. Her hair was thick and curly and ended at the bottom of her back. She had a long face, a beauty mark beamed beneath a set of crimson red lips. She wore a lacy red midriff with black spandex and red fishnets. Even with her height, she chose to wear heals.

She went back to resting on the wall as she started commenting to her friend with much curiosity directed at the cab. The woman she was talking to was almost her exact opposite. She looked to be a woman of some Hispanic heritage and looked a bit older. Significantly shorter than the blonde, she couldn't be taller than five foot two, She had dark hair that didn't even reach her shoulders. She wore much more makeup than the other one, a lot of mascara, dark eyes, and a navy colored lipstick. In place of clothing, she wore a denim jacket with a lacy blue bra showing underneath and skin-tight leather pants.

Roxas began flipping through the new currency, and handed the cab driver some money before opening the door. The women outside still eyed the cab with strange interest. The short tan skinned one stood on her heals to whisper something to the blonde who bent down and took a long drag of her cigarette, exhaled and nodded. Kairi placed her hand on the back of Roxas's chair and leaned in,

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Roxas had already folded the money and packed it away in his jeans. He grabbed the strap of his backpack and began to open the cab door,

"I hope not…" He exited the car door. Sora and Kairi looked at each other and hesitated before exiting. "Do you think Selphie might have steered him in the wrong direction?" Sora thought and then replied to Kairi's question, "I don't think so."

Roxas put on half of a smile as he walked up to the two women, their eyes locked on him as he approached.

"Excuse me," Roxas began timid, "You wouldn't happen to know a Yuna Barewl would you?" The two women looked at each other. The shorter woman tapped her heal on the ground twice as she pushed herself off the wall.

"What would cuties like you be doing in a place like this?" Her accent was the opposite of the locals, she reduced the stress on her vowels and rolled her consonants. Roxas was about to answer but she wasn't paying attention and didn't bother to what for an answer,

"Okay," She took the cigarette from the blonde and took a long drag as the three children waited for her to speak. She lifted her head and exhaled, "What business do you chickies have with little Yuna?"

"You mean you know her? Can you take me to her?" Roxas asked, hoping they would help. The blonde took one last puff of the cigarette and then pushed her self off the wall as well,

"I'll take them." She didn't have an accent, if anything she sounded like the three kids. She handed the short woman the cigarette with the utmost care and placed her hand on Roxas's shoulder as she led them down the street. Sora and Kairi quietly followed with their bags on their backs.

XXX

They had only walked a couple of blocks and ended up at one of those rundown inns. Inside the old inn, there were a set of red-railed stairs, on the left and right. They curved and met at the next level, making an arch in the lobby. Underneath the left stairwell was the reception desk, a large and husky hairy man wearing a white wife beater was in charge of the resister and checking in. There were women walking around wearing barely anything, a couple of them bringing men from the reception desk towards the rooms upstairs. The chandelier on the ceiling was broken; the lights wouldn't work. It was just a fountain of dust that was barely hanging onto the cord. Some statues and paintings that had been sold with the inn were ripped and broken, it made the hotel look even trashier, that and all these skimpily dressed women walking around.

The blonde woman stopped in the middle of the inn lobby and started conversing with a black woman. Her eyes were big and wide, the orbs in the middle completely black. Her hairline was pushed back and the profile of her face was at a dramatic curve, like a semicircle. Her braided and beaded hair fell in great volume from the top her head. She wore a black tube top, shorts, and grey stockings with heals. Her arms were crossed underneath her chest, a purse dangled from her elbow.

"Jacquie, where is Yuna?" The black woman sidestepped to look behind the blonde, at the two boys and girl. She wrinkled her nose,

"Who wants to know?" Roxas stepped foreword,

"Um, I did. Can you tell me where she is? It's important I see her." Her black woman stepped to the side and walked slowly towards Roxas.

"You want to see Yuna?" Her heels tapped on the old marble floors. The clatter of people climbing the stairs and soft records playing in the background grew louder for a moment and then softer,

"She should be down here soon but don't take up all of her time, hmm? We need to work, boy." She spoke very quickly they could barely understand her with the accent. She then turned towards the blonde who asked her for a stick. Jacqui zipped open her purse and pulled out a loose cigarette, she held it out to her. But as the towering blond began to reach for it Jacqui pulled it back, the silver bangles on her wrists jingled. The blonde rose her eyes from Jacqui's hand and observed as the black woman rolled her neck and raised a brow.

"Excuse me," The blonde tapped Roxas on the shoulder and held out an empty hand, "For bringing you here…"

"Oh, yeah," Roxas fumbled through his pockets and pulled out a dollar and four quarters, her counted and handed it to the blonde,

"Sorry, it's all I got." He lied. The blonde took it and smiled and playfully raised her shoulders,

"I usually don't take change but luckily it's just what I need." She handed the black woman a shoulder who snatched it away. The blonde placed the cigarette in her mouth and tugged on Roxas's cheek as she exited,

"Thanks blondie!" She exited, her hips swaying left to right, those toothpick legs holding up all that curly blonde hair and that towering body. Kairi watched as she exited, her backside falling out of her shorts, she felt uncomfterable with all these skimpy women. Sora had his attention on Roxas who was wiping his cheek with his hand, so strong that it stretched his face,

"Gross, like I know where she has been…" He said softly to Sora who smiled in the awkward atmosphere. Three kids in what looked like a ho motel. Sora didn't know where to look, he watched the other woman loitering around the lobby before heading out. A very young one caught his eye. She was walking down the stairs, milky skin, long legs and a killer body. Her chocolate hair bounced off her shoulder, the left layered and curled in about her round face and the right flipped out. She wore a long sleeve red midriff that showed the bare skin between her breasts, a crisscross lace held the sides together. A tight black leather skirt clung to her thighs and a set of long leather black boots reached the middle of her thigh. She walked down the stairs, gracefully and very girly.

"Yuna, what took you so long, hmm? This little thing wants to talk to you and we got to go!"

The girl bounced off the last step, "Relax," She spoke with the same accent as Selphie and Victoria; posh, prestige and superior, "I was finishing my makeup… ah--!" She noticed the back of him, Roxas spun around at the sound of her voice. His eyes widened as she approached, as did hers as she stopped next to Jacqui and stood shocked,

"Yuna!" Roxas stepped towards her,

"Roxas?…" She said softly as if reaching back into her memory, "What are you doing here?" She asked seriously. Her lips were painted red, her lashes full in volume and her eyes…

"I came back…" Roxas started, he looked up into her eyes, "I cam back to see you!"

_'She's a hooker!'_ Sora and Kairi screamed in their minds.

Chapter Seven: Sun eyed girl In The Earthquake Weather… End.

XXX

Yay, Yuna turns out to be one of my fav characters while writing this story so please hold on to the next chapter where there will be way more SoraKairi progress _or_ complications. Slow chapter setting up the surroundings again, they will be here for a while so; stay tuned and please review!


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